


Challenge

by alliewrites



Category: The Ultimate Sidemen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:41:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25115596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alliewrites/pseuds/alliewrites
Summary: (originally posted on wattpad in 2016- I do not associate with this fandom or ships any more)Josh was a... challenge you might say, and we all know Simon Minter can't resist a challenge.
Relationships: Josh Bradley/Simon Minter, Vikk Barn/Harry Lewis
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

Simon Minter, the name that constantly bounced around the halls at a small private school in the centre of London. He was - as cliche as it sounds - what you would call the most popular guy in school.

He was the topic of most conversations... or liked to think he was at least. Most of the time it was just a "Simon scored this awesome goal in football last night" or "He scored 100% on that last test! I can't even pass the class!" or "He's so hot! Do you think I'd have a chance with him?"

That last one was mainly girls. Not that he cared, he didn't even "play for the other team" or whatever the dumb phrase was. No, it's strictly dick for him. Which was the most cringeworthy thing he had ever thought of and pushed it into the back of his mind before he could die of a cringe attack.

"Hey Simon!" a voice was heard from behind and an overly energetic teenager came up beside him. JJ, Simon's best friend since year eight.

"Hey Jide" Jide was another name he used. His real name was Olajide, which Simon had always admired. He had always wanted to have a cool name, but he was stuck with the basic boring name. Everyone in the entire world knew a Simon. How many people knew someone named Olajide? Not many that's for sure.

JJ's personality was unique, much like his name. He came off as competitive and cocky to guys which generally either made them want to challenge him or ignore him. Simon hated JJ in year seven because of his overly enthusiastic comments and smart ass remarks, but when he finally looked past it and noticed there was a lot more to him. First impressions were... First impressions and they were almost always wrong.

The whole thing was similar when it came to JJ and females. If you were and girl and you would first meet him, he was annoying and a little too confident in his flirting game. You'd think he's just another fuck boy. However when you actually got to know him, he was sweet and kind.

Simon got to watch him and his girlfriend, Sophie fall in love last year. Which he just rolled his eyes at how sickeningly cute it was. He would call them his "OTP" but he didn't want to sound like a teenage girl from Tumblr.

"You know I heard there was a new kid. Didn't get a name or a gender but people keep saying they're good looking" JJ spoke up. Simon looked over at him. Since they were technically at the top of the school, they felt that they had to make an impression on everyone so it's known that they belong up there. New kids were normally easy. As they eventually heard stories from their newly made friends, but Simon and JJ tried to talk to them at least once.

You had to make a good first impression to get people to like you.

On the other side of the school, Joshua Bradley walked in the doors, a heavy backpack on his shoulders. It was the second time he had moved in the past month and for once, his family was actually staying in a town. At least until Josh graduates, which was only like eight months away.

But this meant that he actually had to go to a school. For years he had taken online courses. But now he got to enjoy the wonders of high school, which if movies and Destiel fanfictions had taught him anything, it was that high school fucking sucked.

It was a strange new experience to him. Instead of being able to stay inside all his life and avoid the annoying animals known as human beings, he now had to go to school and make friends.

*Shutter* human interaction.

He walked down the halls, which were busy, yet had enough space to break out into a dance if needed.

The advantages of being in a private school was that everything was sorted out for him and he didn't have to go to the office first thing. He already knew where his locker was as well as his first classes so he didn't even need to show up early.

However the disadvantage was that once he strolled through the door people noticed that he was new. Maybe it was the way he walked, or the fact that everyone in the school knew everyone else and his face was different and stood out.

Second thing seemed more likely.

He didn't mind the stares and whispers though. Hey, if he was going to be forced to go to this hellhole thirty hours a week then he might be known.

And as long as no one talked to him he'd be fine.

Simon rushed to first period when the bell rang. His locker was on the complete opposite end of the school and he found himself doing this every morning.

Luckily he made it to class before the teacher this time. He plopped down in his assigned seat and pulled out a book. He hadn't been on the English teacher's good side recently due to a prank he pulled, and if he could start reading maybe he could impress the teacher.

Kids started piling into the room, talking quietly with their neighbour. The desks were set up in pairs, cause Mr Rosen liked everyone to do things with another person. Simon was sat alone because apparently he talks too much.

He didn't see why the teacher was so mad, it was English class and he was using the English language... What more could a teacher want?

He used to be sitting next to his friend, Harry, but he was switched with the quiet kid who sat alone in the back of the class. Now he got to be alone in the back.

Eventually, Mr Rosen did make it into the class and the chatter died down to just reading silently. Around five minutes into the class there was a knock at the door and everyone's heads shot up. Mr Rosen didn't seem to notice and went to answer the door. His face lightened a bit and he opened the door and in stepped this guy, who Simon had never seen before.

He was well built, just a little shorter then the teacher himself. He had brown hair and a rounded face that showed almost no emotion. He was very attractive and Simon couldn't take his eyes off him.

The teacher seemed to whisper and point directly at Simon. The new kid nodded and walked to the empty desk, plopping his book down with a loud smack. He pulled out the chair and sat down.

He had attitude, and Simon liked it.

The teacher started talking shortly after, going on about how to write a dialogue since they'd be writing a short story for a mid term project. Simon didn't pay attention however, blah blah blah.

Instead he was focusing on the kid sitting next to him, who he didn't even know the name of.

When the teacher told them all to get to work, Simon knew this would be his chance to talk to this new boy. He started out with the most simple and cringe worthy thing he could possibly say, "Hey, how you doing?"

The boy looked up from his paper and turned to Simon. Simon took in this moment to study his facial features a bit more. There was a small shadow of a beard around the bottom of his face, his eyes were the colour of milk chocolate that melted a bit on a hot simmer day and he wore an expression that Simon couldn't read.

"Oh. We're you trying to chat me up? Cause you could really use a better line then that honey"

Simon didn't expect this kid to be sassy. So he was blown back for a minute. He eventually shook it off, "I'm Simon. I'm guessing you're new. What's your name?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Well we're stuck sitting next to each other for one thing"

The new boy just rolled his eyes, "Fine. I'm Josh"

Simon couldn't resist saying the next line, a stupid smirk plastered on his face, "Pretty name for a pretty face"

Josh seemed to brush off this comment easily. "Listen, buddy. You seem nice and all but I'm really not interested. Now if you don't mind I would like to get back to actually doing my work"

Simon sat there for a minute. Not really sure what to do. Simon Minter was never turned down, even by straight guys. Everyone wanted a piece of him. Did this guy Josh not like him? Simon couldn't get around that fact.

Nah. He's probably in the closet or something, Simon thought. Shaking his head and turning back to his paper. It seemed like the only explanation that made sense.

The next fifteen minutes were silent as Simon tried to think about his next line, or conversation topic. The more he thought about this the more he knew he just had to get this Josh guy to like him and he wouldn't stop at anything less. Josh was... a challenge you might say, and we all know Simon Minter can't resist a challenge.

Time was running out and for the first time in... Well forever, Simon didn't want English class to end. There was about a minute left when Simon thought of something to say.

"Hey, we got off one the wrong start. I was wondering if you would like to get coffee or some-"

"Listen, Simon. You're a nice guy, but I'm not interested. Alright?"

Simon went to say something else but the bell rang and Josh quickly packed up and left. Simon stood there watching the boy leave with a smirk on his face.

Oh how this was going to be fun.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this book is originally posted to wattpad, and because it was orignally written in 2016, Talia hadn't been part of the fandom yet. So, Allie has been changed to Talia.

"Have you seen the new kid yet? There's something strange about him... I mean he doesn't like me" Simon said at lunch time. He was sat at a circular table with his four friends, JJ, Harry, Sophie and Talia.

"You say that like its a sin or something" Talia says, rolling her eyes and stealing a French Fry off of Sophie's plate (despite her protests)

"No one in the history of... Anything has turned me down before. I mean it's just... not natural!" Simon complained, making little to no sense at all. The other four at the table just snickered.

"Simon, honey. Just except the fact that he isn't into you"

"Not into me? Non sense. Even straight males are gay for me" Simon says, angrily taking a drink of Talia's Diet Coke.

"Well I'm not" Harry says, taking the Diet Coke from Simon and putting it across he table before he threw it at someone. "And I'm not even straight"

"Oh c'mon. You can't tell me that you've known me for over a year and haven't once thought of me fucking you senseless into your bedsheets" Simon says without a change in facial expression. Only he could say such a thing with a serious face.

"Oh that is an image I will never get out of my head" Talia says, covering her eyes.

"It's safe to say that I have never thought such a thing" Harry says, crossing his arms and smirking.

"But you've also had a boyfriend for the majority of that year" Sophie states. "Whom fucks you senseless instead"

"Oh look another image that I did not need burned into my skull" Talia mumbles. "JJ, you're smart. What part of my brain do I carve out to get rid of this conversation?"

JJ just rolled his eyes, because he obviously wasn't smart and Talia was teasing him. He looked over at Simon, "Listen, mate. I know it's hard to accept, but he turned you down and there's nothing you can do about it"

Simon wasn't paying attention however, as his face was trained on a certain brunette that walked past the table. Talia seemed to notice and turned her head.

"That's him. The guy that's walking with Tobi and Ethan" Simon says, subtly pointing at the three boys that walked around the cafeteria.

"Oh, Josh? He's in my gym class, nice guy, good at dodgeball too" Sophie says.

Simon wasn't paying attention as he just got up and walked away, following the three guys. Talia snorted and turned to the others, "Poor guy is going to get his heart broken and it isn't even Wednesday. I call dibs on not having to comfort him"

Sophie and JJ laughed along and they all continued on with their meal.

Josh walked down the narrow hallway and headed down to his locker. He had managed to make two new friends, Tobi and Ethan, who were chatting about which girls they were going to take to the dance in a couple weeks. Ethan seemed to really want to take this girl, Emily, who was the most beautiful girl in the world in his opinion. Tobi wanted to take his crush, Lucy, who Josh had met in gym class. Tobi talked about Lucy like she was the sun and he was a tree that needed her light to grow. Josh laughed when he said that, cause well, it was a strange way to describe it.

Both of the boys were competing to see who would be able to get a date first, but were both way too chicken to even talk to the girls. Josh however had already gotten a girl to go with him. Her name was Freya, she was a sweet girl, very beautiful and funny. However it was obvious that she was in the closet and just wanted to prove to herself that she wasn't gay. Which Josh, being extremely educated in these types of things, noticed within minutes of meeting her.

But he was nice. He decided that he would take her to the dance if she wanted to stay in the closet a while longer. He'd confront her about it eventually, maybe give her a bit of advice on being herself and that stuff.

Tobi and Ethan's lockers were literally like two locker's down from Josh's. So they walked back together. They also had quite a lot of classes together which was good. However they never fucking shut up, so Josh cherished these moments when they weren't right beside him. Not to be rude or anything. Josh just wasn't used to this whole school thing. He didn't get why his parents wouldn't let him finish his last two school years online. It's not like they cared about his education anyways.

He opened his locker and reached back for his maths book. He dreaded maths- everyone did. When he did work online he could always replay the videos again and again if he didn't get something. In normal school, teachers explained it once and got mad if you asked to repeat it.

Or maybe he'd get a good teacher.... Haha yeah right. Like those existed. Josh grabbed his calculator and closed his locker. He went to go and head to class but a certain blond boy decided to show up. Josh rolled his eyes, he didn't know what was up with this Simon guy. He just wouldn't leave him alone.

"Hey Joshua"

Josh had to admit, that this guy was very good looking. He had blond hair that was streaked with pink and swept up on top of his head into a point, and blue eyes that made the sky jealous. But he was the most annoying person he had met in his four hours at this school.

"Fuck off"

"Oh sassy, are we? Anyways, I was thinking that we need to start over. Alright. Hi, I'm Simon and you look cute, let's go on a date now" the blonde rushed. It was obvious to Josh that he was desperate.

"Hi, I'm Josh, and no" Josh said bluntly. Simon showed clear look of disappointment.

"Come on. Don't be like that" Simon says. "We'd be a hot ass couple, let me tell you"

"I have known of you for like four hours" Josh states. He was clearly done with Simon and his fuckboy attitude. "And why do you even think I'd go on a date with you of all people"

That shut Simon up. He looked hurt and Josh felt bad for a minute, but shrugged it off. Simon took that as his Que. to leave and walked away muttering about something.

Josh turned around to be faced with Ethan and Tobi who both had looks of shock and confusion plastered on their faces.

"Did you just turn him down?" Tobi gawks. Josh shrugs.

"Well yeah, that's what you do when you don't want to go out with someone"

"Dude" Ethan starts, "No one turns Simon down"

"I just did" Josh says. He turns back around and walks off to maths. Both Tobi and Ethan seemed pretty surprised. What? Did he just make history for being the first person to turn a fuckboy down? Surely there was a truth to idea that human beings have a bit of common sense.

Eventually Ethan and Tobi had to go down a separate hall and leave Josh by himself. Josh wandered around trying to find room 221.

Eventually he did find it, but it was at the end of the hall. Stupid classroom.

Simon rushed down the halls trying to get to his maths class, cause he decided to chat up some people instead of going to get his books from his locker. He wasn't late, just later then he'd like to be.

He walked into the classroom and like he expected, everyone but him was there. As much as he loved the attention, he hated walking down the aisle as millions - or at least it felt like millions - of eyes watching him and judging him.

He slumped down in his seat and looked down at his phone, cause what else are you supposed to do in math class?

The teacher started to teach before there was a knock at the door. Simon looked up. Josh was stood at the doorway, looking a bit lost. The teacher walked over. Simon could barely hear the conversation, but the teacher was pretty loud.

"You can go sit by... Simon" Simon heard the teacher say. He smirked. Fate just wanted the two together, didn't she?

Simon watched as Josh hesitantly walked to the desk right beside him and sat down. Simon went to talk to him but the teacher started talking again and he didn't want to get in trouble.

Eventually they did get to work however and Simon went to talk to Josh. But then he just didn't. He just went back to his work. Maybe he felt a little...embarrassed, no, Simon Minter was never embarrassed.

About halfway through the class he was done, cause fuck stereotypes, he was good at maths!

He grabbed his phone and opened snapchat, replied to everyone and then closed the app. He placed the phone on the desk and groaned in boredom. The school was stupid, snapchat was the only social media thing that worked and it wasn't that interested.

He went to turn around and talk to Sophie and Talia, who were behind him, but they seemed to be stuck doing work and he didn't want to bother him. He wanted to shout out "I'm so bored" at the top of his lungs, but he had a feeling that wouldn't go over well with the teacher.

He slumped over in his seat and looked around the class. People were chatting a little bit, but everyone else was working. Simon wanted to put up his hand and ask to go to the washroom or something but that would be more boring. Simon threw his head back and sighed. This was his life, he was sat in the middle of math class pondering on going to the bathroom because he was bored.

Hey what was he doing? Josh was right there, he could strike up a conversation! Maybe not strike out. He leant foreword and looked at what Josh was doing. He definitely appeared to be struggling with the subject, all of his answers were wrong by a long shot. A light bulb popped up in Simon's head. He smiled, "You alright there?"

Josh looked up for a minute and then back at the paper, "Perfect" Josh mumbled, "I'm doing absolutely wonderful" anger laced his voice.

"Really cause you've got like... Every answer wrong"

"Well I'm sorry I'm not Sherlock Holmes" Josh spat, looking nowhere but the paper.

"Hey, it's alright. Do you need some help"

"No I'm absolutely fine" Josh said. Simon decided to let it go, he didn't care if this new kid got a bad grade. Hell he was just waiting for this Josh guy to come crawling at him asking for help.

Simon crossed his arms and leant back in his chair, watching Josh struggle, a smirk on his face. Eventually Josh cracked and turned around to Sophie and Talia.

"Excuse me?" He started. Simon rolled his eyes. He was playing this whole hard to get thing well. Talia looked up.

"Yeah?"

"I don't understand this... Do you think you can help me?"

Simon glared at Talia and they made brief eye contact. She turned back to Josh, "I'm sorry, I'm not very good with this math stuff. Simon over here, is very good however, isn't that right?"

Simon nodded, "I mean I don't mean to brag, but I have gotten straight A's my entire life"

Josh sighed and turned back around and Simon leant forward.

"What's confusing you"

Josh looked at Simon and for that one moment Simon saw something that wasn't hatred or annoyance on his face, "I... Everything. I fucking suck at this"

Simon refrained from saying something, nodding a bit, "Let's start with this right now. What seems to be the problem?"

"Everything"

"Well that narrows it down" Simon said, rolling his eyes. "Do you like, not get this at all?"

"Algebra is fucking hard"

"I think I've gotten that. You need to make everything equal"

"Oh well that helps captain obvious" Josh says, Simon sighed.

For the rest of the class, Simon helped Josh with his equations. He learned a bit about him, well, he learnt that he had a severe hatred towards anything that has to do with multiplying or adding numbers.... Oh and his snapchat username!

When the bell rang they were on the last question. Josh sighed and closed the book and turned to the blond. "Thanks. I'll have to repay you soon"

"Well a date seems fair"

Josh sighed, "Listen, you seem nice and all... But I'm not gay, and even if I was, I'm not interested in you"

Josh wasn't gay, he was bisexual. But it seemed like a good enough excuse to get Simon away from him. Plus he wasn't lying.

Simon just smirked and shook his head. Josh might as well be John Watson, seeing as he denies so much.


	3. Chapter 3

Simon plopped down in the front seat of his mum's gold minivan. His stupid fucking car decided to brake down this morning and now his mother had to drive him to school.

Simon hated his mum. So much. Some people thought it was unfair of him to hold a grudge against her. Him and his mum, well, they didn't exactly have a good relationship. Once Simon came out as gay she was all but supportive.

She called him words that he didn't even want to repeat in his own head they were so outrageous, and that was only the beginning. She hit him, kicked him, punched him and even worse- Stuff that he didn't even want to think about. His arms and legs burned just at the thought.

His mother was extremely homophobic if you couldn't tell. She didn't even have the decency to kick Simon out of the house. Instead, she kept him in his room, threatened to beat him.

Simon wanted to go and sneak away, maybe live with Harry, or JJ, or whomever. But he didn't want to be a burden, and he still had a house. Though the house certainly didn't feel like a home.

Back to real life. He was sat in the car with his mother. They didn't talk, no, they never talked. His mother thought that he was a disgrace to her. If she did talk to him it was harsh and usually an order or threat. Just the thought made Simon's mind wander to dark and dangerous times, certain parts of his arm itched like crazy and he pursed his lips and tried to shake the thoughts out of his head.

It worked, and his mind went somewhere else. Joshua.

Josh was confusing Simon, and Simon didn't know what to think of it. Picking up guys was so easy for him, it was like black and white, simple. But Josh, was like the entire colour pallet splattered across a white canvas. He had only known him for a few days, yet Josh clogged up Simon's brain. It was giving him a headache.

A metaphorical headache, not an actual one.

-

At 8:39 Simon plopped down in his English seat. One minute after the bell has rung to start class. Kids were still piling in their desks so it wasn't that big of a deal. Josh was sat beside Simon, doodling things on the corner of his paper. Simon watched him and smiled. He was an alright drawer.

There were drawings of angel wings and then halos, and then pentagrams. Which he was either extremely religious, a satanist, or loved supernatural. Simon hoped it was the third option. He didn't want to sleep with a satanist. Though he would if he had to.

"Alright Class. Now, today is the day we start our project. We went over this all yesterday, if you weren't here you can ask the person next to you, as they'll be your partner. You guys have to write a short summary of a TV show, movie or novel with your desk partner. Be sure to include how it effects and can relate to the people watching and even some fun facts or something. Just one thing, no huge spoilers. When you guys decide your TV show write it on the board. One group per show. You can get to work" the teacher said. Simon smiled, he'd been waiting to do this project ever since he heard about it. Plus this was time to talk to Josh and figure out more about him.

Josh sighed loudly and placed down the pencil that he had in his hand. Simon turned to face him. "Hey"

Of course, Simon couldn't have said anything better then "hey"

Josh just rolled his eyes with his typical stubborn mood, which Simon adored. He liked how Josh was playing this game, acting like he hated him. It was cute.

"Alright. Let's get this over with. What TV show do you want to do?"

Simon glanced back at what Josh was drawing and decided to give number 3 a shot, "What about, Supernatural?"

Josh's face lit up and Simon smiled, cause it was adorable and they had something in common.

"I'll go write it down" Simon said. He basically raced up to the board and wrote it down. Cause you know, that's what high schoolers - no matter what age - did. Luckily he was the first to write supernatural down and that meant they could do the project. He went and sat back down, grabbing a piece of paper out. "Alright, supernatural... How would you describe it?"

"Painful" Simon stated. Josh laughed a little bit and Simon smiled. He liked Josh's laugh. It was cute.

"That's true... But how would you summarize it"

"Moose and Squirrel go on an adventure in the wild looking for their absent father and making friends along the way" Simon said, as if describing a children's book. Josh laughed again, making Simon laugh. And then a whole laughing session erupted over a stupid thing.

Eventually they recovered and went back to working... Or joking around and writing random shit on the paper and hoping the teacher wouldn't make them split up and work on their own.

Josh wouldn't admit it to Simon, or... anyone really, but he kinda liked this. Simon actually made him laugh, sure he was a massive no good fuckboy, but he was alright.

Simon looked back at Josh, a stupid smirk playing across his lips, "You know, how about we get a drink sometime. We can be like Dean and Castiel, except less subtext and a lot more sex"

Oh and look Simon went back to the damn sleeping together thing. Josh scoffed, "Really? That's where we're going with this?"

Simon laughed, "So, what'd you say? You wanna be the Cas to my Dean"

"You think you're funny" Josh states, looking at Simon with a disappointed face. He actually thought there was another side to Simon. Guess not.

Simon smiled, "I think I'm adorable"

Josh laughed at the reference. He walked straight into that one. Simon laughed again. Josh liked Simon's laugh. It was filled with sunshine and rainbows.

And that sounded really fucking gay. Josh thought. But Simon's laugh was filled with happiness. Simon was confusing. One moment he was friendly and normal and then next he was an over confident asshole who wanted a one night stand.

Simon watched Josh as he wrote things down. Josh had neat handwriting, and it was beautiful. Simon guessed that it came as a benefit when you're an artist. Simon knew Josh was good at drawing, while they were talking he was drawing Castiel on the paper and it was actually pretty decent.

"Alright, class. We have five minutes of class left and I suggest you start packing up, I'm sure you guys got a lot done today since everyone's fooling around" The teacher says loudly, the class paused for a minute and then chatter broke out again. Simon looked back at Josh.

"I guess I'll see you later"

"I guess you will" Josh says. "Wait. Since I kind of want to get ahead on this project... Do you want to come over to my house this afternoon? Like to work"

Josh wasn't going to admit it, but he did want to see Simon again. As much as he hated him, there was like this shining bit of hope there and maybe he wasn't that bad after all.

Simon laughed a bit. Look who's asking now. "I would love to, Joshua"


	4. Chapter 4

Simon walked through the halls to Josh's locker, which he had memorized the number of. It was the end of the day and Simon had just got out of Science. Which, he didn't actually do any work in. Who the hell did?

In Math he'd stolen Josh's phone and wrote his number down, and they were texting about supernatural the entirety of last block.

Simon didn't want to jinx himself, but he was pretty sure he would be sleeping with Josh next week.

But there was something that was bothering Simon. He obviously wanted to sleep with him, but there was something else about Josh that made Simon confused about well, everything.

Simon ignored it, cause he didn't know what it was. Probably wasn't important.

When he got to the Josh's locker, Josh was there, with someone else. A girl. Simon went over to see who it was. It was that Freya girl that Simon had talked to like twice.

Simon didn't like Freya, it's not like she was mean or annoying or anything, but... Okay he just didn't like her. Sometimes you just didn't like a person, there's nothing wrong with them, but you just have a feeling that they're secretly evil and out to kill you. Simon felt that way about Freya.

He walked over to the two and stood there trying to look as kind as he could, "Hey Josh, Freya"

Freya turned to look up at him, "Hello Simon. I haven't talk to you forever"

"Oh there's probably a reason" Simon said, but in a joking matter so he didn't hurt her feelings. Freya laughed along.

"Anyways, I best be going. It was nice talking to you Josh, and you as well Simon" and then she left. Simon sighed with relief. She was so nice that it was sickening.

"God I hate her" he mumbled. Josh raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why? She's so sweet"

"Exactly, it's so unnatural" Simon stated. "Anyways, we're heading to your house?"

"Yeah... We'll have to walk though, unless you have a car" Josh said. Simon groaned, of all days for his car to break down.

"Alright. Actually walking isn't that bad. It's a nice day out"

"Yeah it is" Josh said. He grabbed his bag and closed his locker and they walked out of the school. The school yard was huge, but very busy seeing as school had just ended and most busses didn't arrive for another half an hour to forty-five minutes. There were people standing and sitting in groups. Some students were rushing into cars, inpatient to get out of the school. Some boys in year thirteen were smoking just off of the property and then some others were playing tag in the field.

One of the football goals was "claimed" by Talia and her twin, Gabriel and a couple others since their bus didn't come for a good hour. Simon normally joined them. Maybe Josh would want to. "Hey, a couple of my friends are playing football. Wanna join them?"

Josh looked over at Simon, who pointed to the people and nodded, "Sounds fun. We have all night to work on the project"

So they went over. Simon dropped his bag on the line and went over and stole the ball from Lucy, cause Lucy wasn't all that good at football. Josh neatly placed his bag by the others and joined in, he was a little more hesitant however, seeing as he didn't really know these guys.

"C'mon Josh, they don't bite!" Simon yelled back to him.

"Unless you want me to!" Sophie added, earning a smack on the head from Talia and a scold. Josh walked over and Simon passed the ball to him. He didn't know what to do with it so he just passed it to whoever was closest, which was JJ. Josh knew JJ from History. He was a little too rowdy for Josh to be comfortable with, but he was alright.

JJ missed the pass entirely and fell on his face. Everyone, including him, laughed. Sophie went over to help him up, and Josh guessed that they were together. Between the heart eyes and small kiss, it wasn't hard to tell. Ew, PDA.

"Alright, we should play a game or something" Talia suggested, "Crossbar challenge anyone?"

"Hell yeah" Everyone agreed. Simon went and placed the ball on the white line and walked back.

"Alright. If I hit this you all owe me a soda" Simon stated. He kicked the ball and it just barely hit the top.

"Do we talk skimmers?" Talia asked, looking at the others.

"I don't think we do..."

"We'll take them today" Lucy says. She went over to Simon who was running to get the ball. Josh watched as they talked. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could definitely tell Lucy had the hots for the guy. She was making heart eyes at him and was laughing way too hard. Josh looked away. PDA normally bothered Josh, so he took this as just a normal reaction. But was that really it?

Talia smirked when she realized the situation and laughed silently. She liked her new ship. #Jimon. Even though the name was cringeworthy, the ship was perfection.

Lucy grabbed the ball and placed it on the line, "Alright. Simon. I hit this and you take me out on a date"

God she was desperate. Josh thought. Everyone laughed along, even Simon who spoke up.

"You lack the human genitalia known as a penis" Simon states, making everyone laugh. Josh laughed quite hard as well.

"Fine" Lucy huffs, "I hit the bar and you find me a date"

Good save. Josh thought. Poor Lucy, just wanted a boy. Too bad the boy she wanted was gay. Hey, wasn't Lucy the girl Tobi was talking about?

Josh could always set them up. Maybe he would.

Lucy missed the crossbar. But Josh thought he'd be nice. When Lucy gave the ball to Talia, he went over to her. She was watching Simon with the same heart eyes before, Josh tried to start a conversation, "The good ones are always gay, aren't they?"

Lucy turned around and sighed, "You know it... Josh, right? I'm Lucy"

"Yeah.... Listen, I think I know someone who would like to take you out" Lucy looked up at Josh with a curious expression and Josh continued, "His name's Tobi, I forgot his last name. But you two can work together"

Lucy smiled, "He's in my English. I didn't know he-"

"He talks about you a lot, just is too shy to actually act on his feelings" Josh explained, putting a hand on Lucy's shoulder. Lucy smiles and looks down.

"I'll talk to him. He's nice"

Josh removed his hand and went over to where everyone else was. The wind was picking up and Talia was trying to get the ball to sit on the white line without it rolling away. It was funny cause she talked to it like a human, or at least something that could understand her. Josh distinctly remembers hearing her shout "Stay still you arrogant sloth!"

She eventually just gave up and kicked it, it went over the crossbar though and she blamed the wind. They decided that they should play a mini football match before the busses came.

Josh learnt a lot about this group. He learnt that Talia and Gabriel really liked to push each other over and kick each other. Which was considered normal, apparently. He learnt that Lucy was actually pretty good at getting around other people, and JJ was clumsy. He tripped over his own feet more then ten times. Quite entertaining. Sophie wasn't all that good, but she still scored more goals than Talia.

Simon though.... Josh didn't realize how good he was at football. Like sure, he'd seen high school players that were good, but he was like, Fifa World Cup material and only seventeen!

Josh and Simon were stood side by side at the moment, about halfway to Josh's house to be exact. Simon was blabbering on about all the teams he had played on and Josh was zoning out. Eventually the topic changed to supernatural.

Yeah, football to supernatural, that's just how the fandom did things. Everything related to supernatural somehow. Eventually the conversation shifted to Sherlock and Simon's massive crush on Benedict Cumberbatch.

"You're kidding me!" Simon shouts. "You haven't seem Sherlock!?"

"It just doesn't seem interesting" Josh stated. Simon scoffed and pushed Josh to the side.

"It's literally the best show out there besides supernatural! It's like a classic! We are watching all of them night now"

"We aren't even at my house! Plus I'm pretty sure my parents don't want me staying up late on a school night"

"What are we, Twelve! We can stay up as late as we fucking want!"

"But we have to maths thing tomorrow and I-"

"Fine. Friday night, you down?"

"Alright. We'll watch the first one today though, so I can see what I'm getting myself into" Josh agrees. Simon smiles.

"It's pretty fucking awesome, you're going to love it"

Eventually they did get to the house and inside. Josh explained that his parents worked and they wouldn't be home until nine at night. Simon didn't hear him cause his house was fucking huge and it was distracting him. They walked to the kitchen to grab a snack. Simon just helped himself and got a box of crackers. Josh didn't care.

A faint sound of clattering was heard and small backs came. Simon looked up at Josh who shrugged.

"It's just my dog. Her name's Spot"

"First of all, you are so fucking original with that name right there" Simon says sarcastically, "Second of all where is it!?"

Josh went over and opened a door. The door lead to a hallway that went somewhere else. A dog ran in, barking and jumping. Simon couldn't see it because he was on the other side of the kitchen island. But Josh was trying to clam it down. Eventually Josh picked it up and brought it over to Simon.

Simon could see it now, it was a Husky puppy, it's body was as black as night, except for the one patch of white around it's eye. Simon smiled, "I think I know what inspired the name"

Josh motioned for Simon to get on the floor and then placed the dog near him. Spot ran up to Simon and started licking his face. Simon cringed and turned away and Josh pulled the dog back. "Sorry, she isn't usually that rowdy around people"

"It's fine. She's adorable" Simon said. He reached out and played with the pup. He liked huskies. They were one of his favourite breeds of dogs.

Josh watched as he did. He didn't want to admit it, but Simon looked fucking adorable right now. His smile was brighter then the sun and he was laughing when Spot tripped. She was a clumsy dog.

"You want to go upstairs now?" Josh asks. Simon looks over at him and nods.

"As long as she can too" he says, referring to the dog. The dog barks a little and Josh smiles.

"She's allowed"

Simon picked up the dog and followed Josh up the flight of stairs. They went to the room at the end of the hallway. Josh's room wasn't a typical room for a teenager. Actually it was probably bigger then Simon's own house. It had a lounge with a minibar and mini-fridge on one side and then a bed, desk with three computer monitors, a giant ass mirror that seemed to roll and then a door to what looked like a bathroom.

"Holy fuck" Simon says. "This is sick"

Josh just shrugged, "Parents are loaded. My last room in my last house was bigger"

"How the fuck can it be bigger then this" Simon says, looking around. Josh plopped down on one of the couches and motions for Simon to do the same. They'd work on the project later.

"Sherlock's on Netflix, right?"

"Yeah. You got any snacks?"

"One of the cupboards has stuff in it" Simon grabbed a bag of crisps and took some time to look around the room. He suddenly forgot about eating, as he saw something much more interesting.

"You have a guitar?!" Simon asks, looking back at Josh and then going over to where the shiny wooden thing was leant against the wall.

"Yeah. I can't play it though"

"Can I?"

"Go right ahead" Josh says. Simon smiles and picks it up and then goes back over to the couch where Josh was sat.

"Alright. What song should I play?"

"I don't know"

Simon strummed the guitar a couple times. It was in the perfect tune for one of his favourite songs. He strummed it again and the started with the chorus. He was insecure about his singing, and his music choice, but Josh didn't seem to be the one to judge all that much. Especially because he had Troye Sivan and Shawn Mendes pictures plastered on his walls.

He played the chords quickly, and mumbled the words, "I know I can treat you better, Then he can.  
And any girl like you deserves a gentleman-"

"C'mon! You can sing louder!"

Simon smiled a bit and continued, a little louder, "Tell me why are we wasting time, On all your wasted crime  
When you should be with me instead!  
I know I can treat you better, Better than he can"

Josh watched as Simon sung. It was soothing. His voice was pure and sweet and he smiled brightly while he sung the lyrics. Josh just sat there staring at the blond boy. He admired his features, especially his lips. Nope, that sounded very gay.

Simon looked up at him while he sung the last lyrics, licking his lips. Josh stared down at them and imagined his own lips against the boys, moving in sync as his hands ran through his blonde hair and he-

Okay, he was very gay. Very, very gay. But he didn't like Simon. He just liked his face... and body... Nothing else! Nothing would happen between them. Plus he didn't even want to have anything happen between them. It was clear that Simon just wanted a fuck buddy and Josh didn't want to get involved with that.

He was pretty hot though.

Eventually Simon put the guitar away and they turned on Sherlock. Simon sat beside Josh, a little to close to him to be honest, but Josh wasn't going to say anything. He liked this. He was normally lonely.

Spot hopped up beside Simon and laid her head on his thigh. Then got up and started backing at the TV when the show started, cause there were loud noises and that was what dogs typically did.

About halfway through the episode Simon leant on Josh and closed his eyes. Simon knew what he was doing, he did it a lot. He would start to cuddle with Josh, then eventually it would lead to a wild make out session and then more.

But Simon didn't want to do that. Well, he did, but not for a while. Josh was different to him. For some reason that remained unknown, Simon wanted to go slower with Josh, maybe take him on a date first.

Yes! A date! That's genius!

The two boys watched the rest of the episode, and then another, and then another. Cause Josh actually liked the show. Eventually however, it was time for Simon to leave. He did have to be home by a certain time.

His mother would end him if he disobeyed her rules.

Simon tugged at his sleeves, the thought of his mother coming back into his head. He just shook the thought away and looked up at Josh. They were stood at the doorway. Part of Simon wanted to reach up and kiss the brunet boy, but the other part was too scared of a bad reaction. What the hell? Simon Minter had never been scared of a reaction before!

"Night, Joshua"

"Goodnight Simon"


	5. Chapter 5

The hallways were loud and obnoxious Thursday morning as Josh tried to manoeuvre his way through the crowds. There was talk about the upcoming dance and who was asking who, and then other news of a free block today. Cause this school was fucking awesome apparently.

Josh wasn't even sure why there was a free block, probably just an extra study session for something or other.

Josh opened his locker to be greeted by a red rose. It's stem was long and spiky and it's petals soft and dark. Josh pulled it out and sniffed it. He loved flowers. Whoever came up with the stereotype that you couldn't give a boy a flower was obviously never given a flower before.

Or maybe a girl made it up cause the guy she liked gave another guy the flower and she was overcome with anger and jealousy. Josh wondered for a second, who gave him the rose. Then he sighed at the realization.

It was obviously Simon. How he was able to get into the locker was a mystery, but he sure was dedicated. He just really wants to get laid, doesn't he? Josh thought.

As if it was his Que, Simon saunters over to where Josh was. He kept a straight face, seeing as he wasn't sure if Josh had figured out who gave him the elegant - and fucking expensive - flower.

Josh holds the flower and give him a look that basically says 'Are you fucking kidding me' Simon just smiles a bit.

"Good morning Joshua"

Josh rolls his eyes. "I see you've been to my locker this morning"

"You know, it's believed roses are meant to symbolize romance. They say that the soft petals are delicate, like the caress of a lover, and it's elegance is the touch of life itself" Simon speaks, trying to sound as romantic as possible. Which wasn't half bad seeing as he just recited the first thing to come up on Yahoo.

"And spikes represent pain, which you'll be feeling when I jab the stem into your eye" Josh says, gesturing to the stem.

"Anyways, I was thinking. My parents are out tonight and-" Simon starts only to be cut off by Josh.

"This isn't a 'My parents aren't home' thing, is it?"

"No! No! I'm just lonely and was wondering if you wanted to go grab some... coffee with me" Simon says, stammering a bit and nervously playing with his fingers. What the hell! I've never had this problem before. He thought.

Which he hadn't. He was used to people throwing themselves at him and he was never nervous about it. But now he was, like the fact that Josh could reject him again effected him. He liked Josh, and as mushy and as cheesy as it was, Josh was no longer just a game, he was a puzzle. A very fucking challenging puzzle.

Josh could see how nervous Simon looked. Which only confused him. Weren't fuckboy's supposed to be, well, confident... full of themselves? There was no obvious reason why Simon could be nervous... Well unless Simon genuinely cared if he got rejected or not.

A smirk played across Josh's face, cause this was all so funny. The way Simon stood there was cute.

No! He didn't just call him cute. Not at all. He wasn't cute. Not at all. The way he fumbles with his hands wasn't cute. The small little thing about roses that he totally got off of the Internet wasn't cute. His little smile wasn't cute. They way his lips curved into a smile and his teeth shun,

Josh wondered how soft those lips really were. He couldn't help but imagine them against his own, moving roughy and messily as his hands trailed down his abs and grasped- What the hell.

"Josh? You zoned out there" Simon interrupts his thought. Josh shook his head, no! He didn't just think about that. Maybe it was just his normal teenager hormones. Why would he even think about that. Sure Simon was gorgeous and probably looked better without a shirt on while he was laid out panting under- Oh god he would have to wash his own brain out with bleach or something. Stupid hormones. Stupid fucking hormones. He definitely didn't need that image.

"Y-Yeah sounds nice. Fun and stuff" Josh stammers out. Idiot! He just fucking agreed to the fucking date! Well it wasn't bad or anything but he didn't want to- he just didn't like Simon. Not like that. They could just be friends. Friends probably had thoughts about each other like this all the time... Wait why the hell would they! Oh god, Josh was in a swirling tornado of emotions.

"Awesome! Six sounds good?"

"Y-Yeah"

"Awesome I'll pick you up. I've got to go, see you in maths and English and just generally around the school" Simon says, he walks out and away quickly. He would be skipping and dancing if he weren't in the middle of the hallway. He agreed! He agreed to the fucking date! Oh this was great.

Okay, maybe he was a little too happy.

-

Simon knocked on the door to the large house. It was exactly 6:00, like Simon had said. He had to get the timing just right, it was just something he did.

He didn't dress up for this, except he did put a bit of make up on and combed his hair so there were no loose strands going everywhere.

A woman no older then forty opened the door. She had black hair that looked to have a few grey streaks and very tried eyes. She wore clothes that looked very expensive, and a necklace that looked to have a real diamond on the end. She examined Simon with a cold stare and Simon felt a little self conscious, as this was almost certain to be Josh's mother and he wanted to make a good first impression.

Cause, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he liked Josh, and he wanted Josh's mother to like him.

Simon forgot that he should probably speak, "Hello? Is Josh home?"

The woman's face changed into a more happy one and she held out a hand, "You must be Simon! You know Josh talks about you a lot"

Simon smiles. Josh probably thought about him as much as he thought about Josh. "Yes, nice to meet you"

"Josh is upstairs, I assume you two are going out?"

"Yeah" Simon answers. They talk for a minute before Josh's mother shoos him upstairs. He walks up and knocks on the door which he remembers being Josh's.

"Come in?" Josh yelled from inside. Simon opens his door. Josh was stood at the other side of the room, only in his pants.

"Hey" Simon says, looking over at Josh's body. He was nicely built, that was for sure. He also totally had a nice butt. Josh looked up and turned a bit red, quickly putting his shirt on.

"Hi, I didn't think you'd be here this early" Josh says, trying to cover up his embarrassment.

"I'm alway on time" Simon states. He walks around the room a bit, the rose he gave Josh was in a small vase on a table.

Yeah, Josh kept it.

Josh tried to convince himself that he kept the rose because it was pretty, which wasn't the real reason. But he was stubborn and like every person in every fanfic ever, he wasn't about to admit that he kept it because of Simon.

"You can just sit down, I'll be ready in a minute" Josh says, disappearing off into the bathroom or something. Simon walked around the room---which was truly a small house in its own. Josh's family was definitely wealthy. Well if the big ass house didn't already say that.

Simon plopped down on the couch and looked over at the TV, which was paused about halfway through what looked to be the second episode of the third season of Sherlock, "I see you've been watching Sherlock! Couldn't stay away from the gay?" He shouted over at where the bathroom door was.

"It's interesting!" Josh shouts back. Josh eventually re-appeared out of the bathroom and grabbed some keys and a wallet that were on his night stand. "Okay, ready to go?"

"Yeah"

Simon had gotten his car fixed just in time. So they didn't have to walk anywhere. They walked down the stairs, Simon stopped to pet spot on the way and Josh dragged him along. Josh's mother watched them with a small smile on her face. Oh young love.

She grabbed onto Josh's arm before he could exit, "I approve" she says. Josh gives her a look of confusion and she just shakes her head, "Keep him" she adds.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Josh whispers/yells. It felt like he was John and his mom was Mrs Hudson. His mom just shakes her head and laughs.

"You don't have to hide it from me!" she says. Josh just sighs and his mom shoos him off eventually after an unnecessary reminder about using condoms.

Josh didn't get why she thought that Simon and him were dating. He didn't like Simon and thought it was obvious. Well, he kept telling himself that he didn't like Simon.

"Took you long enough!" Simon says when Josh gets into the passenger seat of the car.

"You know moms. They always keep you behind and give you the safety talk" Josh states. Well, Simon didn't know what that was like, but he just smiled and agreed. He had read enough fanfics to get he general idea, plus he had heard other moms say it loudly as well.

Josh was a bit embarrassed and he didn't know why, if anything he should be annoyed with his mom or just not affected.

It was just probably because his mom was embarrassing.


	6. Chapter 6

The two were sat across from each other. Two drinks in front of them. Simon wasn't one of those people who drank coffee, so he just settled with a strawberries and cream frap. Plus it was a pretty colour. He liked the colour pink. It was almost as nice as red, maybe a close second on his favourite colour chart. Which yes, he did have.

Josh went with the basic plain coffee, ha, boring. He's at Starbucks for heavens sake! He should order one of the crazy drinks! Or, well at least a Frappachino or something. Maybe have a flavour shot or something. Nope, he stuck with the boring drink.

Which was the main topic of the conversation going on between the two at the moment. "At least I didn't get something that screams 'look at me I'm gay!'" Josh says in a high pitched voice, doing the jazz hands.

Simon just laughs, "It shows I have a colourful personality, so fuck off"

Josh rolled his eyes, "I'm sure you do"

"Yep, I'm six feet, two inches of pure rainbow and sass" Simon states, "See! It's starting to effect my hair!" he points to the pink and blue streaks in his hair, which were just a bet to begin with, but he liked it and kept them.

"Oh god"

"You know I think I'm going to put some red and green streaks in" Simon says, "Maybe some purple too"

"I think you'd look good with it all just one colour" Josh says. Simon ponders the idea and then nods.

"Yeah like red or something"

"You could totally pull it off" Josh says, cringing at how girly that sounded. Simon nods along but then his smile disappears.

"Or maybe I'll just go blond again. I'm getting too old for this and need to get a job soon anyways"

Josh didn't like how sad Simon sounded. It made him sad. He put his hand on Simon's which was just laying on the table, you know, for comfort. "Those are stupid reasons. You want to die your hair? You fucking do it! Make it... Neon red or something if you have to! But if you want to do it and it makes you happy then don't fucking let it stop you!"

Simon smiles at this, his face tinted red. Josh was sweet, he liked him. He liked him more than he liked other people. There was like this strange new feeling he felt when Josh spoke to him, when he laughed and when he smiled. Something that he had never felt before. Deep down he knew that this was no longer a quest to sleep with the brunet boy --though that would be a bonus-- This was something else, Something more. "You know what? I think I'll dye my hair red tomorrow"

"Good for you" Josh says.

"Fags" both of them turn their head to look at a lady, maybe thirty, standing and glaring at them. 

Josh hated when people did this, absolutely one hundred percent hated it. The fact that people out there hated people because they liked the same gender, or were born in the wrong body, or both. It made him sick. So he did the one thing, that he had basically wanted the opportunity to do since he heard about homophobes. He leant over and quickly kissed Simon. It was only short like a quick peck, and Josh played it off like it didn't mean anything. Cause to him, it was a friendly kiss. If a guy wasn't tough enough to kiss his friend to piss of a homophobe then he wasn't a man.

Simon looked away, flustered, cause well, he had been waiting for what seemed to be a very long time for that. But he knew that it really meant nothing to Josh.

The lady scoffed and muttered something along the lines of Disgrace and going to hell.

Josh smiled, "You're just jealous that I could get a hotter boyfriend than you" which, in the end sounded childish. But so were her ignorant views so....

The lady gasped over dramatically and went to say something else but then one of the workers came and pushed her out of the store. He came back and Simon smiled and waved at him, mouthing the word 'thanks'

"You know him?"

"That would be JJ" Simon exclaims proudly. "My best friend"

Josh laughs a bit. Then another feeling washed over him. Something along the lines of jealousy. But it wasn't jealousy. He didn't feel that way for Simon. Or at least, he thought.

It wasn't important.

"So. I'm your boyfriend now?" Simon says, smirking and playing with his drink. Josh sighs.

"Homophobic assholes like that bug me" Josh says. "Just seemed like the best thing to say at the time"

Simon was a bit disappointed. He already knew that was reason, he just hoped it would end up starting an awkward but adorable situation where Josh would go "Would you like to?" And then they'd get together and it'd be like happily ever after.

Which didn't happen, cause this wasn't a Disney fairytale. Though Simon could see himself being the first gay Disney Prince. Well, if he didn't have to sing cheesy songs, Or ride a horse, he didn't like horses.

He looked back at Josh, trying to find some sort of topic to start a conversation. Oh! Wait! "So. The dance is coming up. You thinking about taking someone?"

Okay, so yeah. Maybe Simon was hoping that Josh would ask him to the dance. So he basically had a whole scenario played out in his head and then all the possible ways he can hint it.

"Yeah, actually I'm going to take Freya. She seems nice"

Well, Simon was prepared for everything but that. He mentally cursed, but just said "Oh" out loud. A not-nice feeling ran through Simon's head and it felt like he had a pit in his stomach. He didn't like this feeling, he didn't even know what it was! He had never felt it before. So, he tried his best to ignore it, "She's beautiful! You two would be a hot couple"

Josh sighs, "Nah, I'm pretty sure she's gay"

"Well that's a pickle" Simon says.

He was a bit relieved. Cause this means that Josh might get turned down still. Or maybe he could even find a date to go with Freya so he can squeeze in there and take Josh. Oh god this was confusing.

"I'm thinking we could just go as friends" Josh says. Well there went Simon's plan. "we could call ourselves the queer duo or something"

Simon raises an eyebrow, "What are you?"

The "Oh shit" thought ran through Josh's head. Cause well, he kept telling Simon that he was straight. Or well, he kept telling him that he wasn't gay and usually that translated to straight. Well, might as well tell him now. Not like he would care, the man was gay himself!

"I'm bi" Josh says, looking down at his drink. Okay, it was alway a little hard to say it. Even if you were positive that the other person was supportive, it was still hard. Which it shouldn't be.

"Good for you" Simon says. No extra comments, Just the simple thing. Which was all Josh wanted when he told people. "So with guys, you a bottom or a top?"

Josh rolled his eyes, there was that extra comment. "Why did that question even leave your mouth" he says. Simon shrugs.

"I'm curious" Which he was, for obvious reasons which weren't so obvious to Josh for some reason.

"You're weird"

"I've been told that" Simon says, "So? Answer the question"

"Okay, one, I don't think people just randomly talk about this. Two, I don't actually know" Josh says, muttering the last part. This was definitely an awkward conversation.

Well, it was awkward for Josh. Simon showed no embarrassment whatsoever. "See I like to think of myself as a free willing bottom" Simon declares, sounding like a big dork. Josh laughs, embarrassed for him.

"Never say that again"

Eventually the chatter turned to small talk and then eventually the two found themselves on their phones. Cause, well, they're teenage boys in a generation over ruled by technology and they needed to check their phones.

Simon was on snapchat, replying to streaks with pictures of Josh and the caption "Date Night" cause he did that. Then he went on Instagram and found Josh's account and started stalking him. Josh wasn't the one to post selfies, more like pictures of scenery and stuff.

Eventually he just searched up "Long ass words and their meanings" on the web. Cause well, he was a bit weird.

Josh was scrolling through his Twitter feed, liking tweets from the few people he followed. Simon had tweeted out "Date Night" and tagged him in a photo. So he then went to Simon's profile and started stalking his account.

Which was really a bunch of quotes from old and new movies and then the occasional Sherlock or Supernatural quote. Josh also went though who Simon was following and followed people that he recognized from school.

"Did you know the phrase Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and symbolize The Beginning and The End" Simon says out of the blue. Josh looks up from his phone.

"What?"

"Some random fact I found on the Internet" Simon says, they go back to the phones. The song Chasing Cars plays in the background, Simon mumbling along to the lyrics.

Josh looked up, okay yeah he was totally cute right now. He wasn't even going to deny it. Simon Minter was - in the most platonic way possible - cute. Girls call each other cute without romantic feelings all the time. So Josh could think he was cute and it meant nothing. His mind swirled with contradiction and excuses, which blinded him from the obvious.

Simon was also thinking about his feelings, but in a non-denying way.

Simon wanted Josh, it was no longer a fun little challenge. He needed him. No longer in a sexual way, a romantic way. Like a "I need to date you cause you're fucking interesting and I like you" kind of way.

Though sex would be a plus.

It was all very new to him, seeing as he wasn't used to these feelings. The longest relationship he had lasted three days and it was in fifth year and was a Zap.

He didn't stay with people that long, only a night or two. It was all One Night Stands and there was really no emotion. Maybe a bit of lust, but even that was unusual.

Josh was like, well, he was different. Very different. His laugh made Simon's heart flutter, his smile was like the sun, and don't even get started with the eyes. Simon laughed a bit too hard at his jokes, and found himself looking at him every chance he got. Josh was always crowding his thoughts and he felt almost nervous when he was near him.

Which Simon had searched up, and it all led to the exact same page: Signs that you love someone.

That was cheesy, but not as cheesy as the phrases and sentences that described everything.

You know, Simon liked the phrase "Falling in love"... It was accurate. Cause it's like your falling off a cliff, you know it's going to end badly but you can't stop it.

Since this was all relatively new, Simon was scared. He didn't want to mess up, yet wanted to pull a move. Josh was confusing him more then that History assignment two years ago - which was the most confusing thing in Simon's life. Until Josh showed up.

Eventually the two were kicked out of the coffee shop, since it closed at eight. Neither really wanted to go home, so they just walked around, talking about everything.

The conversation went from JJ's hair to llamas and then they had to sit on a bench and watch all twelve episodes of Llama's With Hats. Then they had to watch the ASDF Movies and then somehow ended up watching the actual cannibal Shia Labeouf video for some reason, even though they'd both seen it over a thousand times.

The minds of teenage boys are a mystery.

Simon just kept clicking on other videos that looked funny, cause he liked hearing Josh's laugh.

Eventually they started walking a bit, since Simon had an idea. While watching the last few videos he zoned off trying to think of a plan.

It was a perfect night, not a cloud in the sky. Aries was directly above and then moon was a cute little crescent.

A perfect night for a kiss. Wasn't it?

Somehow, Simon found an ounce of courage in him, so he decided to find a decently romantic setting and pull the first move.

"You know, I never knew something could turn out so brutal" Josh says, referring back to the Llama's with Hats video. Which was the topic of the conversation yet again.

"My favourite one is still the second one" Simon says. Josh agrees.

"Carl where are the other lifeboats?" Josh quotes, trying to say the long and annoyed "Carrrrrrl" that that other llama says.

"Looking at the trajectory of the sun and the moon, I would say that they're somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, I bit lots of holes in them" Simon says, doing his best Carl impression, which was spot on. Both the boys broke out in laughter.

Eventually they came across a park meant for children and being the sixteen year old boys they were, they decided to go and play on the slides and stuff.

It was nine o'clock and no one was out except for a few cars and people walking their dogs. So it was generally quiet. The two boys challenged each other to do things they would do if they were twelve, like hang upside down on the monkey bars and recite the first twenty digits of Pi. Or climb to the highest point on the play ground and jump off. Or swing on the swings and pretend to be airplanes like the little kids did.

Basically they just acted like idiots for a good half of an hour.

Simon stood at the top of the double slide, looking back at Josh, smirking, "Race ya?"

Josh agreed and ran to it, jumping down it. Simon expected a fair race but nope. So he went down the slide playfully yelling at Josh for cheating. He went to tackle him when he got to the bottom but Josh just ran away.

"You can't catch me!" He bragged in a voice that resembled a little kid. Simon laughed at this and then went to chase him. When he did catch up he touched his shoulder quickly.

"Tag! You're it!" he yelled, running away. It eventually turned into a two person game of tag. The two imbeciles ran all over the play ground until Simon gave up and collapsed on the grass.

Josh went and stood over him, placing his foot on the blond's chest and declaring himself "Winner"

Simon scoffed and got up, using Josh's hand to pull himself up, they were near inches apart. "You know, I haven't had that much fun in years" he says.

Which was the truth. Also a modified Dean Winchester quote if he was thinking correctly. Like the one Dean said to Cas in season something of supernatural.

Simon was panting hard, seeing as he just ran like... Everywhere. Josh laughed at bit, "You alright there"

"I'm fine" Simon says. The two look into each other's eyes, like those cheesy fanfics. Simon felt an urge of courage to kiss the boy standing in front of him. So he leant forward, placing a hand on Josh's lower jaw and tilting his head up a bit. Cause well, height differences.

However Josh stepped back before any contact could be made. Simon looked at him, a little hurt cause of the rejection. Josh just sighed.

"Listen, Simon. I... Don't mean to be mean, but I think we're just friends" Not even Josh knew what he was saying. Josh was scared. He knew Simon only wanted him as a sex toy, and he didn't want to start something knowing that he would become attached. A kiss would only worsen the situation. Josh did not want to fall into something that was guaranteed to end.

Simon looked at Josh, before sighing. "I understand"

The two stood in silence before Josh found an excuse to leave, which was rather quickly. Simon was going to offer a ride home, which he just now remembered about his car still parked at the Starbucks, but Josh left and disappeared.

The whole walk back to Starbucks Simon cursed at himself for being an idiot. Cause this is the one thing that was holding him back, the fear of rejection.


	7. Chapter 7

"You did what?" Ethan shouts.

Josh, Tobi and Ethan were hanging out and waiting for the bell to ring. Their conversation drifted to Josh and Simon, and then the fact that Josh rejected Simon yet again.

"Yeah" Josh didn't understand why they were so surprised.

"You rejected Simon? Like the Simon Minter"

"Yeah. Why is this such a surprise?"

Ethan laughed with disbelief, "Man! Even straight guys would die for a piece of that. And you get the chance and you reject him!"

Josh sighed, "Yeah. I'm not into him"

Okay that was a huge lie. Josh kept pushing his feelings away though, cause well, that's what people in fanfics normally do.

Ethan looked at him with an unsure look, "Okay. Sure. Sounds fake, but sure"

Josh pushed him, Tobi laughed. They started talking about other things. Ethan had won the bet for the dance and successfully got a date with Emily. Tobi was too chicken.

"Hey Gents" A voice said from behind, Josh sighed. What did he want.

Ethan and Tobi both looked too scared to talk and I wanted to laugh at them. I turned around to be faced with Simon. He looked almost, shameful. Which was weird since wasn't he supposed to be like, confident.

"What do you want?" Josh asks, it came out a bit harsh and he seemed a bit taken aback.

"We're going to class. Meet you there" Tobi says. He and Ethan walk away.

"Listen" Simon starts, scratching the back of his neck and looking down, almost embarrassed. Cute.

No, not cute. Josh told himself.

"I wanted to apologize for being so straightforward last night. I honestly just thought the feelings were mutual. Apparently they aren't, and I'm sorry" he says. Josh wanted to chew him out with the 'Not everyone is into you' talk. But he couldn't do it for some reason.

"You are forgiven"

Simon looks up as if not expecting that answer, "Wait, Really?"

"Yeah. It was just a small mistake"

You could tell Simon's mood instantly changed, he stood up straighter and there was a smile etched onto his face. "Thank you. So much!"

And they just kind of stood there, looking at each others and not saying anything. Josh just liked the way Simon looked, it was aesthetically pleasing. They're pulled from this state by the bell ringing. Josh realizes the situation, how close they were together, God now everyone probably thinks they're a couple, "I-I-I- I'll see you in Maths" he says, before walking away as quickly as he could.

Simon smiled dumbly and leant up against the lockers beside him watching Josh walk off. All these strange new feelings emerged when he was around Josh - or even thinking about him. He didn't know how to feel about Josh, cause well. He was different.

When Simon gets rejected it usually doesn't matter to him, but this time it does, if he ends up with Josh in the end or not.

When Josh kissed Simon yesterday - even though it was just to fend off a vicious homophobic woman - Simon felt feelings he had never felt before.

He didn't know what to call these new feelings - or what category in the feelings chart they went under.

\---

"So you guys want to rent a limo to the dance?" JJ asks at lunch time. Everyone was sat around their table.

"Hell yeah" Talia says. Everyone else agrees.

"Simon, you got a date yet?" JJ asks. All of them had found dates for the dance, all except Simon. This was normally so easy for him, he could ask anyone and they'd agree. But This time he only wanted to ask one person, and that one person was Josh. But Josh was already planning on asking someone else.

"No, actually"

"Anyone on your mind?" Lucy asks, as if sort of hinting towards her. Sophie hit her over the head.

"I want to ask Josh, like really badly. But he's already got a date. Freya" Simon says, he said Freya's name as if she was Metatron or Moriarty or Voldemort or someone really hated.

Sophie looks over at where Freya usually sat, Josh was there too and they were playfully pushing each other and laughing. Simon scoffed at the sight. "Yeah, I don't have any advice for that. They look like they're in love" Sophie says, giving a look of pity.

"I just don't know!" Simon says, slamming his hands on the table. "Every single person in the god damn world likes me! Everyone! Except the one guy that I give a shit about! I'm so fucking done with this world!"

The small breakout was unexpected - especially for Simon himself - and a few people from nearby tables turned around to see what the commotion was. Simon gave them a look and they turned away.

"Man, you are falling faster then Sherlock did" Talia states, seeming quite proud of her joke. It earned her a couple glares and a smack over the head. "Okay. But like, I don't think I've ever seen you like this"

Simon sighed and rubbed his eyes a bit. "I don't know guys. This is all so confusing!"

"Well love is confus-" Harry starts.

"I don't love him! I like him maybe. But it's way too early for love. Like I've only known him one week" Simon says.

"Okay. So pretend I've never met him, describe him for me" Talia says, everyone looks at her strangely, "Just do it"

Simon was hesitant but did it anyways, "Uh. His name is Joshua, he... Well he has the most...cutest smile, and his laugh is like sunshine. His eyes are like... all these different colours. One minute they're green! And then they're dark brown, and when the light shines on them they turn blue and gold and at night they look almost silver- anyways. He's also like super funny, and kind and sassy at the same time.... I..." Simon trailed off, he rested his head on his hands and sort of zoned out. JJ smacked the back of his head, bringing him back into reality.

"Well, I think it's pretty clear that you are in loooove" Sophie says, dragging out the last word. The table laughed a bit and Simon looked down embarrassed.

"No" he dismissed.

"You literally described his eyes as five different colours. That's love bitch" Harry states. Simon turns bright red and tries to deny it, but he can't.

He may have only known Josh for a week, yet he was already hopelessly in love with him.


	8. Chapter 8

"Hey Frey" Josh greeted, walking up to the blonde girl. It was lunch time and a Tuesday, exactly one week until the dance. He was going to ask Freya. Something in the back of his mind was telling him not to, but he just ignored it, it wasn't all that important. Was it?

"Hi Josh!" this girl was cheery, and just over all perfect. Or whatever Josh could think of that would take his mind off of someone else. He liked Freya, she was nice.

He was actually just trying to find a reason Freya was better then Simon. Which he couldn't.

"So. You going to the dance next weekend?" Josh says, starting the conversation and hoping she hadn't found anyone.

"Uh. Well I don't have a date. But I'd like to" she says. Her eyes looking around the room, "Why?"

"I was just thinking, why don't we go together?" Josh asks. This was the point where she either rejected him or agreed to go with him.

"Uh... That'd be... Nice. Yeah, it'll be fun" she stuttered, unsure of herself. Her eyes went over to another table where the person she was wishing would ask her was, laughing along with her dumb ass boyfriend that Freya despised. At least someone wanted her. Josh would be fine. He was a cool guy. She could get over the whole not-a-girl thing for one night.

"Awesome!"

Meanwhile about thirty feet to the left Simon was sat at his table glaring at the two. He knew what was happening, Josh had told him in English, and guessing by the way the two were laughing it was plain obvious that she had said yes. Oh the more reasons to hate that girl.

"Calm down there sugar. You're going to set the room on fire" JJ says, waving a hand in front of Simon's face. Simon shook his head and looked away from the 'new hot couple' (As he called them)

"I don't know what to do guys!" Simon declares. He rests his head in his hands and stares down at the table.

"Uh. Well. There's still a week 'til the dance. You have time to convince him to go with you" Talia suggests. Simon looks over at her and glares.

"And how am I supposed to do that! He's already made up his mind! He's taking Freya"

"You're acting like she killed your family in a past life or something" Cal says, rolling his eyes.

"She probably did" Simon mutters. He was definitely jealous if you couldn't tell already. Everyone was expecting him to pull a Spain and declare war on her. But he had the decency to be quiet.

"Listen. Bud. You can either mope around and act like a jealous twat, or you can do something about it" Talia says, metaphorically slapping some sense into him (which didn't actually work).

"Yeah. You're right. Wanna go to the dance with me?"

Talia scoffed, "No. That wasn't what I meant"

Simon turned to the table, "Any of you guys want to go to the dance with me?"

Lucy went to speak up but JJ stomped on her foot and she stayed quiet. Everyone else shook their heads and Simon pouted.

This was all so out of character for Simon. Normally he would be jumping back at Josh and doing whatever he can to get him to go to the dance with him. He just... Didn't want to. He was scared of rejection, that one night at the park was enough.

"Listen, Si, if you want help I can talk to Freya and find her another date" Cal suggests.

"1. Do not call me that. It's annoying and sounds like you're really disappointed in me, 2, don't bother with the Freya thing. It'll just make it look like we're the bad guys trying to break them up" Simon says, putting his hand up as if to signal Cal to shut the hell up.

"Fine. I guess you're going to spend the next week moping around then" Cal says. Simon sighs loudly.

"You know what? No, I'm not! I am going to find a date and they're going to be better then Josh! Just you wait!"

Talia sighs loudly, "Whatever makes you happy"

Everyone at the table was smart enough to know that Josh was something different, and Simon really liked him. But what was confusing them was the fact that Simon wasn't over there trying to convince him to go to the dance. They all (not-so) secretly ship it.

Simon got up from the table, glaring over at Freya's head one more time and then walked away, he'd find someone else to go to the dance with.

Actually, he did have someone he could easily ask. That cute boy at Starbucks that he never called back. Maybe he was still single and willing to be a plus one to the dance. Simon remembered his name to be Luke, or Alex, or something along those lines.

He also seemed to be in Simon's next class, so it worked out. Simon wasn't the person to search out every fact about someone, but he's heard a few things about this guy. Huge dick and amazing kisser seemed to be two main aspects about him floating around the school gossip line.

Simon walked to class early, seeing as this guy was always there early and he could get this over and done with. No more Josh thoughts, maybe this guy was better than Josh. Oh god he was thinking about Josh again.

Sure enough, when he walked into the room the guy was sat there reading a book. He was definitely an eye pleaser. He had dark hair in a quiff and he had a little bit of stubble. Simon sat on the chair in front of the boy and put his arm on the desk, leaning on it in a sort of flirtatious matter.

The guy looked up and smiled a bit, he had a beanie and big round glasses on. He was hot, but didn't compare to- no one. Simon didn't let his mind go back to that guy.

God he sounded like some hormonal mess going through a bad break up.

Well, he was a hormonal mess, but not the break up thing.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah..." Simon says, trailing off and searching for a name, he sees an A on the paper and then smiles, "Alex, right?"

"Uh, Ashton actually, but you'll get it eventually" the boy states, looking disappointed. Simon just smiles.

"Sorry, your face distracted me" okay so maybe that wasn't the best thing to say. But Ashton laughed.

"Simon, right?"

"Yeah. We met at the coffee shop a couple weeks ago, remember me?"

"Oh yes, the cutie with the pink hair" Ashton says, repeating the words that he wrote on Simon's coffee cup. That came along with a number that he luckily saved in his phone.

"That would be me. What are you writing there" Simon asks, trying to make a conversation.

"Some overdue paper. It can wait" Ashton says, moving the papers to the side and resting his chin on his hands. "So, you seem like you have something on your mind, anything that I could help you with?"

Simon smirked a bit, "I was thinking, you and me, we'd make a smoking couple" he starts, trying to sound flirty and suggestive.

Ashton gives the look of disappointment and sighs, "You're lonely and desperate for a date to the dance"

"Yeah pretty much"

"Let me guess, getting over someone?"

"How did you-"

"It's written over your face, kinda pathetic if I'm being honest. But cute at the same time. Let me guess, that Josh guy?"

Simon didn't even know how Ashton knew all this stuff, but then again he was on top of all the rumours and gossip going around the school.

"Yeah..."

"So I'm guessing you would like to go to the dance, so I'll spare you the words and agree to it right now. As long as you repay me in some way"

"And that way is-"

"I would love some pizza. Mind getting me a slice from the cafeteria tomorrow?"

"Deal"


	9. Chapter 9

"So, we have like five more days to work on this project, wanna come over to my house tonight?" Josh asks whilst the two walked down the hall to math together. Simon had caught up to Josh after a long battle with himself over rather or not he should.

He was acting stupid, they were still friends, right? There was no stupid break up or fight or anything and they could just carry on without any worry. Simon was over reacting, like a lot, it was absolutely nothing to be weird about.

He was definitely overreacting.

"Yeah, sounds fun" he sounded like a nervous teenage girl getting asked out by their crush, basically a dorky, awkward mess. Josh thought it was cute though.

Okay nevermind, he didn't think it was cute, apparently it was opposite in his mind... He was still stuck up on denial if you couldn't tell.

The day went on and the two occasionally talked, not so much out of class, seeing as they had different friends they hung out with and everything.

At lunch he watched from across the room as Freya and Josh laughed together. He didn't like that, he should be the one there, not that girl.

Simon wondered that if he hadn't tried to pull the move, he would be in Freya's place.

At the end of the day Simon walked down to Josh's locker and leant against it, waiting for the boy who seemed to take forever after class. Normally it was a race to get out of the hellhole that was school, but Josh seemed to take his time.

When Josh did come, Freya was by his side, talking about some cat or something, Simon only heard the words "Cat" and "Fluffy"

"Oh, hey" Josh said as if he wasn't expecting Simon to be there, which angered Simon a bit, but he was smart enough not to let it show.

"Hiya Joshy, miss me?" Simon put on his best annoying voice. Freya laughed a bit and said hi. Simon just faked a smile at her.

"Move" Josh said, playfully trying to push Simon so he could get to the locker. Simon didn't budge though, cause he liked this game.

"Nah"

"Simon, it would be awesome if you could move"

"Staying still is also pretty fun" Simon said, almost in a mocking tone.

"I suggest you move before my hand makes contact with your face and your nose is bleeding. 'kay?" Josh said in a light and serious tone, trying to be funny. Simon eventually did move cause Josh pushed him.

Freya watched as everything happened and laughed along, seeing as that's all she seems to do in this story. She seemed to notice the way the two looked at each other, and being a perfectly smart human being, she knew instantly that there was something going on between them. What was it called again? Oh yes, skinny love.

She didn't want to say anything though, she'd rather the two figure it out on their own. She was happy to be a witness.

"Well I've got to go, bye Josh, nice seeing you Simon"

Simon rolled his eyes in a way, cause he still couldn't get over his damn jealousy, "I wish I could say the same"

Of course he said that in a joking tone, he didn't want to be mean. He wasn't that ruthless. Freya just rolled her eyes and playfully pushed him before walking further down the hall, where Simon assumed her locker was.

"I absolutely despise her" Simon said in a harsh whisper. Josh rolled his eyes, even though his head was buried in his locker and Simon couldn't see it.

"She's actually the nicest human being on this planet" Josh states. Simon just sighs. He had no real reason to hate Freya, yet he would shoot her if he got the chance.

"She's just got you wrapped around her finger with her looks" Simon didn't even know what he was saying anymore, it was literally just spewing from his mouth.

"Nah, besides, it's pretty obvious she likes girls" Josh says, grabbing out the binder he needed and closing the locker.

"Huh?"

"I've told you this like five times before, besides, why would you care if I dated her or not?" Josh says like he's stupid. He had good reasons though. Josh still believed that he meant nothing to Simon, and he was only a game for him to pass the time with. He was so blinded by denial that he didn't see the way Simon looked at him, or talked to him.

Simon himself, was never good at these admitting feelings things, and he definitely wasn't going to profess his profound love for the brunet boy in a school hallway.

"I don't, really" he lied, Josh raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He knew it was a lie, hell, everyone who would've heard it knew it was a lie, but he didn't want to say anything else.

They drove to Josh's house in silence, probably because of the lack of radio in the car. Not actually, Simon just really wanted to make that reference.

When the two got to the house they let themselves in. Spot came running up, barking. He had grown a bit from when Simon last saw him... Huskies grew quite fast.

Josh watched as Simon laid on the floor and played around with the dog, laughing when it licked his face. Josh couldn't help but smile. Okay, so maybe he liked him a little more than a friend.

Simon got up and put his hand out to the dog, "C'mon buddy, fist bump me"

Poor spot just looked at Simon with confusion. Josh crossed his arms and pursed his lips, trying to get rid of the dumb smile on his face, "What are you doing"

"There's this guy in my computers class that can fist bump his dog.... I think his name is Tobi"

"Oh I know Tobi, he's one of my mates" Josh states. What a small world.... or school.... Or whatever.

"I am so going to beat him at the best dog competition" Simon mutters, just loud enough for Josh to hear. Josh laughs a bit cause Simon was a huge dork.

"Sorry babe but that's not your dog"

Simon paused and smugly smiling turning over and leaning on his elbows, "Babe?"

Josh was able to shake it off though, "Sorry, just thought it would be funnier"

Internally he was screaming at himself. Babe. He had to be stupid enough to fucking call him babe. Babe. Oh god now it was obvious to the whole fucking world that he apparently had feelings for a certain blond.

He was overreacting in his head. Simon could tell that he was at war with himself, so he decided to help a friend out. "So we going to go upstairs and work on the project or nah?"

Josh snapped back into reality, "Yeah. Sounds good. I'll... Get a snack"

The two just stared at each other for a minute and Simon realized how much Josh has changed him. It was cheesy, and stupid, but he had. Two or so weeks ago Simon was sleeping around with everyone and thinking it was a game, now he was love struck over some guy whom kept making him feel things he hadn't before.

He shook it off and got up, almost tripping a bit. Josh just laughed at him and went into the other room to find snacks.

Simon walked upstairs to the room he had memorized from the last two times he's been here. He awkwardly sat on the couch. Two weeks ago he would've been thinking about all the things the two could be doing on this couch. Okay that wouldn't be a good "I've changed" thing to say cause he was still thinking about all those things they could do on this couch.

But you get the point.

Josh eventually comes up to the room with the project papers and they get started on the quotes and stuff. They made an excellent point about AKF and YANA, and then some other things. They didn't really know what they were doing.

"So, did you get a date for the dance?" Josh asks, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah. Ashton Daly"

"Ooh, he's cute" Josh says, for  
some odd reason he was jealous, "You two are a hot couple"

"Well, not really a couple. We're just friends"

"Question. How do dances work?" Josh asks. Simon looks over at him as if he was stupid.

"You don't know how dances work?"

"Well. I've been homeschooled my entire life, sooooo" Josh says, shrugging.

"You're being serious"

"Yup"

"So this means you've never even slow danced before" Simon says, an good idea coming to his head. If he couldn't dance with Josh at the actual dance, then he could damn well try to right now.

"No... I haven't"

"I can teach you!" Simon suggests, a dumb crooked smile on his face. Josh was taken aback for a minute.

"Listen, Si. I-I-I- would love to but I just-"

Simon cut him off by putting a finger to Josh's lips. "You can pretend I'm Freya if you want. I'll even put a yellow shirt on my head and talk in a high pitched voice"

Josh couldn't help but smile. He grabbed Simon's arm and pulled the two of them up. "A-Alright... Yeah okay"

It was awkward for Josh, with all the denial of feelings in his head and the fact that he didn't actually know how to do this.

"So how do we... Where do I put my hands?" Josh asks, soundly like an awkward virgin during their first time. Simon laughs, cause his mind was in the gutter.

"Silly, we need music! What's a good song"

Josh thought back to the Coffee shop for some reason, and then remembered Simon hesitantly singing along to Chasing Cars. So he took out his phone and fumbled through it, finding his music app and searching for the song before handing it to the blond. Simon looked at it and pressed play, setting it on the side table and moving to place where they'd have the most space. Josh followed, hands in his pockets.

"Alright. So stand facing me" Simon says as the piano keys play in the back ground.

Josh did as told, his shoulders were hunched up and he still felt out of place. Simon just laughed at the actions and grabbed his arms.

"Okay, so assuming I am the girl, you need to put your hands on my hips" Simon orders, grabbing Josh's arms and guiding them to his hips. Then he put his arms around the shorter boy's neck. It was weird, cause usually it was the other way around. But it would work.

We'll do it all  
Everything  
On our own

"Okay so now what?" Josh asks.

"We sway side to side slowly"

We don't need  
Anything  
Or anyone

"Like this?" Josh was definitely unsure and self conscious about his actions. They were doing it just right though, and Simon nodded.

If I lay here  
If I just lay here  
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Josh couldn't help but stare into Simon's eyes. They were beautiful. He always loved blue eyes. He never really realized how hot Simon was, his face was so well proportioned and his lips looked so soft- no.

If it wasn't for his stupid, unneeded thoughts running through this head he would lean up and kiss Simon right now.

I don't quite know  
How to say  
How I feel

"God this is a cheesy song" Simon remarked, not actually realizing the words until they were put into a situation that mattered.

"I like it" Josh hummed. The two kept dancing along. It was like they were the only two people on the earth that mattered at that very moment. They were so caught up in each other.

Those three words  
Are said too much  
They're not enough

Simon awkwardly leant his head on Josh's shoulder, trying to not laugh.

"What are you doing?"

"Something Freya will do"

After a few milliseconds he just gave up though and returned to the way he was before. Truly he just wanted to know what it would've been like to do that.

If I just lay here  
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?  
Forget what we're told  
Before we get too old  
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Simon mumbled along to the words, like he did days ago. Josh felt a warmth in his heart, almost like a feeling of- nope. Not that, certainly couldn't be that.

Okay, he would admit it to himself. Maybe deep down, he liked Simon as more than a friend, but it was only small and it didn't matter. He would get over it soon enough anyways, right?

Let's waste time  
Chasing cars  
Around our heads

"Okay, so this is the part where you kiss the girl" Simon states, Josh looks up and freezes for a moment before Simon laughs. "I was joking! But if you want to-"

Josh playfully smacked him, "You ruined the moment!"

The song played in the back ground but neither of them cared to listen to it, and they were too caught up in each other.

Okay, Josh wasn't going to hide it from himself, he liked Simon a lot more than he should. At the moment, it didn't really matter if Simon was just trying to sleep with him or not. Cause this moment was perfect.

Well, until he got another idea. Simon's back was facing the couch, so he jumped and they fell on it.

"You bitch!" Simon scowls, jokingly of course. Josh was practically straddling the blond, and neither of them hated it. Josh moved his hands a bit and Simon started squirming. "Stop it! I'm ticklish!"

Let's just say he probably shouldn't have said that.

Josh laughed evilly and started tickling the other boy. Simon was pleading for mercy and trying to slap his hands away. It was completely different moment from like two minutes before. This one would be a lot more memorable.

Another song had come on, but they payed no attention to that.

Eventually Josh stopped and the position they were in was finally noticeable to them.

Josh stared down at the boy laying under him. His eyes flickering between the other boy's dark blue eyes and plump pink lips. A dangerous and dauntless thought running through his head. "C-Can... Can I kiss you?"

He didn't mean to say it aloud, but it was too late now. Simon stared back at him, a small smile formed and he nodded, as he had been waiting for this moment for what seemed like forever. Josh leant down so their foreheads were touching, only staring into Simon's eyes. He turned his head a bit and captured the boy's lips with his own.

The kiss was fast, unpracticed, strange even, but it was everything they had ever needed. Simon smiled into the kiss, reaching to the back of Josh's head and running his hands through his hair. Their bodies fit perfectly together, as if it was truly meant to be.

They pulled away for a short second so they could catch their breaths. Simon couldn't open his eyes, this was different from everything. No, he needed to stop saying that Josh was different, it made it sound like he wasn't normal, but then again he wasn't. He was so much better than normal.

Josh's mind was going a million miles an hour. He didn't like this, but then again, he actually really did. Denial was coursing through his brain; he didn't like this, he didn't like Simon. But he really, really did.

Eventually their lips found their way back to each other, but this time it was short. Simon couldn't help but smile widely when they pulled away.

However Josh's no-good brain got the best of him, and he pulled away embarrassed and almost furious. This wasn't good.

Why the hell did I do that. I don't like him. Josh thought. But his lips, they were so soft.

Simon looked up, he knew where this was headed, he could read Josh's face perfectly. He sighed, "I best be-"

Josh cut him off by leaning down again, and messily kissing him one more time before that bad side got the best of him. He pulled away, "You... You should probably be going"

He got off quickly and Simon got up. Simon knew this was going to happen, he was just trying to look at the positives. At least he got a few moments of pure bliss before it was torn away.

He didn't bother with the project, they would finish it some other time. He walked out the door and down the steps to the front door where his stuff was. Josh followed, but didn't say anything.

"Goodnight Joshua" Simon said before solemnly walking out of the door. It wasn't even five o'clock yet.

Josh didn't bother saying goodnight, just waved and closed the door.

The he picked up the nearest thing and threw it.

He was such an idiot.


	10. Chapter 10

"You're serious?" Josh asked in disbelief, it was the day after everything had happened and he had done everything in his power to avoid Simon. 

Freya nodded, "Yeah! They literally did it in a janitor's closest! I didn't even know that happened anymore!"

The two were discussing school gossip. The news is that two of the more popular kids were caught having sex in a janitors closet. Which was just embarrassing for them. Freya had the unfortunate roll of finding said couple. She just laughed it off though.

The two didn't really know how to carry on the conversation, so Josh decided to change the subject, "So, have you picked out a dress for the dance yet?"

Freya nodded, pulling out her phone, "Yeah! It's blue and white" she showed Josh the picture she took last night.

"You look very beautiful" Josh commented.

"Thanks"

"I still don't know what I'm wearing" Josh states. Believe it or not, finding things for dances were harder than expected. He wasn't going to wear a full out suit to a casual dance, that wasn't what high schoolers did. Maybe he'd dig out some old dress pants and a shirt that was all one colour and didn't have any cocky sayings or brand names on it. Hopefully he had one.

"Maybe you could ask Simon. He always knows what to wear to dances" Freya says, pointing over to the blond who sat tables away.

"No!" Josh shot, a little too angrily. Freya was confused, seeing as they got along fine yesterday after school.

"Is something wrong?"

"No! No! He's just been annoying me lately" Josh says, coming up with the best lie he could in five seconds.

"Oh" Freya was unsure, cause she was pretty smart and able to figure out that something must've happened between the two. Josh seemed to be glancing over in Simon's direction every once in a while. "So here's a question. Sorry if I'm going over the line or something, but do you... Like Simon? Like have a crush on him? Which is completely fine, but I don't want to be in the way of you two! I... If you-"

"I don't like him" Josh shot, "Not at all, he is way too cocky and stupid and... And... Just not likeable"

Okay so he definitely liked him. Freya sighed loudly. She saw the way the two looked at each other, the way Josh talked about Simon yesterday at lunch, it all lead up to one thing, "Sweetie, I'm not stupid. I've been through this phase before. You are totally in love"

"Am not. He is so-"

"Okay. So let me spell it out for you.   
D-E-N-I-A-L. Okay? You like him, he likes you. Why are you too scared to admit it? Are you afraid of being gay? Or loving him? Or-"

"I don't know what you're talking about Freya. I don't like him, I absolutely hate him as a matter of fact"

Okay, so there was definitely no use on trying to convince Josh. So Freya would probably have to drag the two together at the dance or something. She was going to get these two together if she had to literally tie them to a pole. Besides, maybe if she put them together they could help her get with her crush.

Meanwhile on the other side of the cafeteria, Simon was sat glaring at the couple. He had been through a wide spread of emotions and it's only been a day.

At first he was embarrassed and sad, then just confused.

Confused because Josh kissed him, like literally asked if he could. Then he was kicking him out all of the sudden and acting rude. Did Josh want him or not?

Then back came the sadness. The thought that the only guy he's every truly cared for (other than friends, of course) didn't want him. Was he just not good enough? What was wrong with him?

Then came anger. Simon had literally tried everything, and Josh didn't like him. Poor him. He just didn't know what he was missing. You know what! Fuck him, and not in the sex kind of way! Josh could go the fuck away and Simon would find someone better!

Then came more sadness, cause Simon was never going to find another Josh. Josh was special, he was kind and generous, but also witty, sarcastic and sassy. Josh was cotton candy flavoured ice cream, hard to find and satisfying all the time. Everyone other boy was just vanilla, he could find that anywhere.

He wasn't afraid to admit it, he was in love Josh.

And Josh wanted Freya, not him.

Little did Simon know that Freya was completely out of the picture. Freya seemed to be the only one in this thing that actually knew everything. Maybe if this story was about Freya it would all be figured out by now.

"Simon. You've been staring at Josh the whole time you've been here. It's kinda starting to become freaky" JJ comments, waving a hand in front of Simon's face. The rest of the table looks at the blond with pity.

"What even happened between you two" Talia asks, casually stealing a couple fries, it wasn't like Simon was going to eat them anyways. "I mean, you two seemed close yesterday afternoon"

"I'd rather not talk about it" Simon says, stirring a fry around in ketchup. He wasn't hungry.

"Okay, if there is one thing I've learnt from past experiences, it's that talking is good and you should do it" Vikk says. Sophie nods in agreement.

"Plus it's not like we don't know about most of the situation anyways"

"Fine. Josh kissed me" Simon starts. JJ spits out his drink.

"That's like the opposite of a problem! Right!" JJ says, oh poor boy, so clueless. Cal smacks his head.

"It obviously didn't go over well dumbass. God you can be so stupid"

"So what happened?" Harry asks, glaring at JJ and Cal.

"I... Just don't know. I mean, he was the one to initiate it, and then he just fucking kicks me out of the house! What did I do wrong!" Simon bursts.

"You didn't do anything wrong. It's obviously something going on in his head" Talia states, stealing another fry. Fries were good.

"But like. I don't know what to do. I like him. But he doesn't like me"

"Simon, bud. I'm going to say something and you better listen. Smarten the fuck up! Okay? He obviously likes you, he kissed you! I sure as hell don't go around kissing my friends for no reason! You are obviously in love with him and if I've learnt anything from my past experiences it's that love is rare and when you get the chance to act on it you damn well better!" Harry says in a scornful manner.

"I can't act on it. He's with Freya" Simon grumbles.

JJ looks over and sighs loudly, "They are just friends you clueless mole rat"

"No-"

"Uh huh" JJ cuts Simon off. "I would think it's quite obvious. If they were a couple they'd be holding hands and swooning over each other. Not to mention that Freya likes girls and Josh is most definitely not a girl"

Suddenly, it all made sense to Simon, and Simon did what he did best. Laughed. Hard. Josh... Josh liked him and he was stupid enough to let one little thing make him think otherwise.

What happened to him! Simon used to be so good at reading people! Josh has been messing with his head!

"I think he gets it" Sophie whispers to Talia, who agrees. The whole table just watched as Simon laughs. And then he notices the people staring at him and he stops.

"Uh. Yeah. Okay. I think I get it now. Thanks guys" he says, getting up.

"Where are you going?"

"I, my friends, am going to actually try and admit my feelings to the love of my life-" Of course then the bell rang,   
"-After school"

JJ smiled, "We wish you luck"

And so Simon spent the entire period trying to find a way to say what he felt to Josh. Which of course distracted him from his work. The teacher just dismissed it though, she didn't care.

Simon walked through the halls, over to Josh's locker. Josh was the only one there for a change. No Freya. He tapped on the brunet's back.

Josh spun around to be met with Simon. His face immediately turned to a scowl and he grabbed his backpack and closed the door without breaking eye contact somehow.

"Listen" Simon starts, his cheeks were bright red and he looked down at the floor, embarrassed. "Josh I-"

Josh cut him off, "Don't care"

And then that no good, asshole, son-of-a-bitch walked away. Leaving Simon alone. Simon wasn't one to cry. He just deeply sighed and leant against the locker, sliding down so he was sat on the ground. Some people looked at him with pity even though they didn't know the situation and others ignored him. He was unsure of what to do with himself.

For once, the player was the one to get played.

Freya noticed this as she walked by to go to her locker. She walked up and crouched down beside him, "Simon? Are you alright?"

Simon didn't even bother to look up at her, "No. You know what? I'm not"

"What happened. Was... Josh here"

"Josh is the fucking reason I'm like this" Simon growled. "He's such a-"

"What did he do?" Freya asks, putting a hand on Simon's shoulder, both for reassurance and steadying herself so she didn't fall over.

"Everything! Okay! He's such a... A jerk!" Simon sputtered. He didn't care if people heard him, most of them just didn't care anyways.

"You guys were getting along so well yesterday"

Simon rolled his eyes, "Well that was before the damn fucktard kissed me and kicked me out immediately after"

Simon didn't know why he was telling all of this to Freya. But she just seemed to be there to talk to.

"Hold on. He kissed you? Like on the lips right?"

"Yeah. Full on kiss. Then right after the whole 'you should go' thing! What the fuck is wrong with him! Was I a lousy kisser?"

Freya sighed, "Honey. Don't beat yourself up over this. Josh is just going through the denial faze. He really likes you, I can tell"

"You really think so?" Simon said, using the most overused line in history. Freya nodded.

"He does. Now I can always help you if you need. I know you don't really like me. But I want to help"

Simon sniffles a bit, "I don't know how you can"

"I'll try to talk to him, but you have to as well. Okay?" Freya says.

"Okay"

"Maybe okay will be our always" Freya quotes mockingly. Making Simon laugh a bit.

Simon was going to be okay. He was going to get Josh, no matter how long it takes, he is determined.


	11. Chapter 11

Simon sighed deeply as he looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was styled a bit more than usual and he wore a black dressy top and some black jeans that looked dressy enough.

"Come on asshat, wear a damn tie" Talia said from inside her brother's closet, coming out with a variety of ties. The two were getting ready at her place after Ashton cancelled on Simon. Talia decided to go as Simon's date. Even though they wouldn't call it that. She was going to make sure Simon talked to Josh.

"No. I don't need one. It's not a formal dance" Simon argues, crossing his arms. He watched through the mirror as Talia rolls her eyes.

"No. But if you are going to make a good impression on Josh then you might want a tie. Just saying" she says, walking over to Simon and spinning him around, putting the tie on in seconds. She was used to having to do this, seeing as Gabriel usually hated ties as well. What was with men and ties?

She steps back. Simon huffs, he didn't like this. Gabriel, who had been paying no attention to this infestation in his room put down his phone to say no to the tie.

"Okay, so never mind, this isn't working for you" Talia says, turning around and going out of the room. Simon takes this chance to rip the tie off. He was like a rebellious child who didn't want to go to Sunday school.

Then again, ties were horrendous.

"There is a reason that I don't go to dances and this is exactly the reason. I told you to get ready with JJ" Gabriel says, "I mean, I could've just given you those clothes yesterday"

"Well you didn't say that yesterday. Besides, Talia isn't that bad"

Talia comes back in minutes later with a leather jacket. "What is that?"

"My leather jacket. I think it'll work" she says, throwing it over to Simon, "Put it on"

"Are you kidding me! This is a girls jacket! There is no way I'm putting this on!" Simon protests. Honestly, it wasn't even that, he just really wanted to get out of going to this dance. He had been procrastinating and making up excuses instead of actually talking to Josh. Probably wasn't good, he just got... Too nervous?

"Actually, bought it in the men's section. Besides, you're literally wearing some of my makeup. Your argument's invalid"

"Th- fine" Simon said, giving up. He needed to go to this dance, no matter how much he didn't want to. Simon put the jacket on, since Talia always bought jackets a size bigger.

"See that doesn't look all that bad" Talia says, tapping her chin as if she was a fashion artist or something. "Wait"

She walks forward and unbuttons the top buttons on Simon's shirt.

"What are you doing?"

"Unbuttoning your shirt! What does it look like I'm doing" Talia hisses. She only undos three before stepping back.  
"Okay, that is totally better. Josh is going to love it"

"I don't know if I can do this" Simon says, turning around and looking into the mirror. He liked to think he looked pretty good, but then again, you always thought you looked attractive even when you weren't. He was just a self conscious mess.

"You do this stuff all the time! It's going to be fine!" Talia says, sitting on the bed.

"But this is different. He's not one of those careless horny teenagers throwing themselves at me. He's real, he matters"

"That's right. He matters. If he matters that much to you then you are going to take this opportunity and fix things. Okay?"

"But he doesn't like me. He hates me. Why else would he be ignoring me?" Simon argues. He was being one of those stupid, having those last minutes thoughts that made him want to chicken out and forget about this all. But that would be the stupid thing to do.

"Honey, you're not that dumb. He likes you, okay" Gabriel says, rolling his eyes at this attitude.

"But what if he-"

"If he doesn't then we'll go get ice cream after and talk about boy problems. But he does, so that's not going to be an issue" Talia says, trying to be the best friend she could. She didn't know what to say, she wasn't good with relationships.

"Okay. You know what. I'm being an idiot. He likes me"

Simon had changed. Weeks ago he was picking up guys with no problem at all, now he was sat, looking in the mirror and fixing his hair for the millionth time while giving himself a pep talk. Josh meant the world to Simon. He was more important than anything at the moment.

"Okay, tiger, we've got to get going. You got everything?" Talia says, grabbing her phone.

"Have fun! Talia you're cleaning up my closet when you get home by the way" Gabriel calls after them.

Talia was going to say some witty comeback about Gabriel being in the closet but remembered he wasn't anymore so she couldn't make the statement. So like all her and comebacks, that one failed.

They walked out of the house and down to the car. Simon was an anxious mess. He sat in the passenger seat and checked his hair again in the mirror.

He was overreacting.

"Honey. You look fine" Talia reassured, "This is all going to go well"

You could probably guess that the whole car ride was full of Simon listing off everything that could go wrong - which, I might add, included Benedict Cumberbatch coming in and taking Josh out to Nandos.

But that was most likely not going to happen.

Eventually they pulled up at the school parking lot and walked in. There were people talking in small groups outside of the gym and what looked to be multi coloured lights coming from the gym.

Harry and Vikk were outside talking. Along with JJ and Sophie and Tobi and Lucy. Simon decided to stall time and talk to the group.

"Someone's looking good" Sophie said, handing an extra cup of pop or whatever to Simon. At this point Simon didn't care what it was, if he died at least he wouldn't have to do this.

But no. He wanted to do this.

But oh god did he not.

"Someone's finally going to ask another someone out" Talia comments, stealing the drink and taking a sip. "Ew, Pepsi? Come on Sophie, couldn't get a more exciting drink?"

So Simon's hopes that the drink would kill him were shattered. That was good though. So he needed to shut up about it. He could do this, everyone was all telling him to and as much as he wanted to chicken out and watch Doctor Who at home, he couldn't look like a pussy.

"Yeah, I would love to get another drink but unfortunately it was either Pepsi or that off-brand dull tasting stuff. Ew" Sophie said. The two just kind of went off bickering about drinks.

"So, Si. Are you really going to do it?" JJ asks, walking over. It almost sounded like he was going to ask Josh to marry him, which was definitely not going to happen.

"I really don't know if I can" Simon states, "I don't even think he likes me anymore. I just-"

"Okay. Simon. Listen here. I, and everyone else here, have told you countless times that Josh likes you. You know what? Even Freya herself said so. Now what you're going to do is March your dumb ass into that dance, find Josh and smack a big kiss on his lips or I swear to god I will do it for you... Wait not the kiss part, but you get the point" JJ says, pointing in the direction of the gymnasium. Simon sighs loudly.

"I... You know what I'm going to do it. Right now" he said, boldly. "Wait no I can't I really just can't"

JJ smacked Simon over the head. "For fuck sakes. Do it now. You only have like two hours left and that should be spent making out with him or something. If I have to tie you two together and lock you in a metal room to get you to say it I sure as hell am. Grow up and get it there!"

Sometimes Simon really loved JJ.

He was also very scared of him at the moment. So he walked towards the gym.

You can do it

He kept repeating those four words in his head. However he gave up before he got to the door. He needed to enter with a date at least. Where Talia ended up? No fucking idea.

So procrastination! He went to go look for her. She was over at the concession with some random guy and it took at least five minutes to get her attention.

"Hey, Si. This is Jace. What do you need?" She says, the blond guy holds out his hand and Simon rejects it.

"I need you to come help me for a second. Please. Just like five minutes" Simon says. Talia sighs.

"Fine. I'll catch you later J"

Simon dragged Talia away. He felt bad, but he needed help. "Alright. Listen. I'm going to go ask Josh to dance, what I need is someone to walk into the dance with me so I don't look like a pathetic loser"

"Really? That's wonderful!"

So now we shall cut over to Josh. Who was standing awkwardly next to Freya. Freya was not-so-secretly looking around for Simon so she could leave and go find some girl to dance with. Maybe, she could find the girl that always hung out with Simon.

Josh had thought about Simon, and turning him down in the hallway all week. Whatever he thought about trailed back to Simon, kissing him desperately that one day, dancing with him, laughing and playing at that park meant for little kids.

He finally realized, that he was in love. He was no longer scared of the outcome, the thought of Simon just wanting to sleep with him never even crossed his mind, cause he was smart and new that Simon wanted him.

Josh loved him. More than he should.

Eventually a slow song came on and Josh awkwardly turned to Freya seeing as Simon wasn't in sight, "Can I have this dance"

Freya decided what the hell and went to agree, but then she caught sight of a certain blond behind Josh. "Uh..."

"Hey. I really don't mean to be a bother, but can I steal Josh for a dance?" Simon asked, awkwardly shoving his hands in his pockets, cutting in. Josh turned to Freya and she laughed, putting her hand up at his face and pinching his cheek.

"Go for it, tiger"

So Josh turned to Simon and they started dancing. It was awkward, that was for certain. Neither of them really knew what to say to each other, both of them were just kind of at war with themselves.

It was Josh who spoke up, "Listen. Si. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just" he took a moment to take a deep breath, "I feel like there is a stronger connection between us that isn't necessarily something friends would have but more like-"

Simon snickered a bit, "Stop with the fancy sentences and stuff. I get it, I like you too"

Josh smiled, a blush creeping up his neck, "You mean like, like like. Like you..." He trailed off, he was making no sense whatsoever.

Simon just smiled, "You're cute when you stutter. Yes. I like you. Like 'I want to date you' like you"

Josh couldn't help but smile widely, all the worries of the last couple weeks had disappeared. This felt right, it was where the two needed to be. "I-I-I-I'm sorry for how I've been acting. I... I'm a fool for ever pushing you away. But that means I get to be right here, right now, and for that... I'm happy to play the fool, for you"

Simon couldn't help but laugh, "Did you just-"

"Yeah I did. Clever use of quote? Right?" Josh asks. It was safe to say that they were meant for each other.

"Is it too soon to say that I love you?" Simon blurted out. He didn't mean to and cringed, closing his eyes.

Josh took the opportunity to grab the collar of Simon's jacket, pulling him down just to the right height and kissing him slowly.

The moment was perfect. The kiss wasn't too fast, or heated like the week before, but it wasn't dull or too slow either.

When they pulled away they stared at each other, not saying anything. Just taking in the moment.

"You know what Simon Minter? I think it is a little too soon" Josh laughed, but then he said, "I think I love you too"


	12. bonus

"Well, there you two are! I've been looking all over for you!" Talia yelled, skipping up to JJ and Sophie as they entered the gym, "Guess who just grew a pair and got the love of his life to kiss him?"

"Wait, like Simon actually did it?" Sophie asked, a bit surprised. She was not-so-secretly making bets that he'd wimp out.

"No I'm talking about Alec Lightwood in the Mortal Instruments" Talia said in a sarcastic tone, "Yes! Simon actually did it and O-M-G it's so adorable!"

"What's so adorable?" Simon and Josh picked the perfect time to walk in to the conversation. Simon's arm was slung around Josh's shoulder and both had a bit of a grin plastered on their faces. It was cute, to say the least.

JJ tried not to "fangirl" over the situation, he'd had a couple drinks and well, let's just say he was a bit weirder then usual when intoxicated.

"We're going to go get some food and probably a couple of drinks. We'll be back in like five" Simon said, grabbing Josh's hand and leading him away from the group. There were two things on his mind, one was that he needed to get away from JJ before he said something embarrassing and two, he needed to find a closet or something.

Being the typical teenage boy he was, he was dead set on making out with his newly found boyfriend. It was just how Simon rolled with relationships.

Eventually, after going around the place, the two found an empty single toilet bathroom and they went inside. Josh was smart enough to know where Simon wanted things to go. It was a typical fuckboy move. Even if it was obvious Simon had changed with some things, this was not one of those things.

When they got inside the blonde threw himself at the other like a drunk girl at a party. Josh was a bit hesitant at first, he was still comprehending what was happening, but he kissed back none the less.

The same feeling from all those days ago was back, the pure bliss. It was nothing like in movies, it was better. Even if it was in a school bathroom, it was still utterly amazing.

Simon was the one to take the first step and slip his tongue in the other boy's mouth, exploring it. Josh's dominate side started to let loose and he moved and pushed Simon against the counter. The blonde smiled into the kiss.

Josh could take "making out in a bathroom" off his bucket list, that was for sure.

Josh pulled away for a quick second to catch his breath. He took a glimpse at Simon, meeting his blue eyes. The pupil was enlarged just a bit, and the iris was dark blue, almost like Homer Simpson's pants.

Okay, he had to say that last part so he didn't sound like one of those cheesy girls in all those romance novels.

Eventually the two found their way back to each other. Lustful tension filled the room. Josh quickly grabbed Simon's legs and lifted him up onto the counter without losing contact. The blonde ran his hands through the other's hair. He was a bit impatient, and wanted things to move faster and get to the good part.

Josh's hands moved to the small of Simon's back, slipping under the jacket and shirt. He has done this many times before with girls, but this was the farthest he'd gotten with a guy.

Simon trailed his hands down from Josh's hair, moving down to his chest and then across his abs. He rested his hands there for a minute, just taking in the moment. Out of all the casual hookups he'd had with all those different people, Josh stood out. Josh was something else entirely.

Josh moved his lips to Simon's neck, Simon moved his hands lower and started fiddling with the zipper on the older boy's jeans. Josh pulled away from him, leaving Simon to whimper a bit at the loss of contact.

"I- um" Josh stuttered out. Truthfully, he wasn't ready to go any further then this. Not in a school bathroom at least, "Sorry, it's just... I-I-I- I just don't... I can't"

Simon offered a small smile and slipped off the counter, putting a finger to the other boy's lips, silencing him, "I understand"

The lust in the room disappeared and was replaced with awkward tension.

Mentally, he was cursing himself out. He was too damn pushy, and should have waited for Josh to make the first move. He was stupid, Josh was obviously not ready, they literally just got together!

"I... I'm sorry for being so forward, didn't realize you didn't want to-"

"I wanted to, I just don't want to go too far... we're in a bathroom for fucks sake!" Josh groaned.

"I'm sorry" Simon apologized again, scratching the back of his neck and looking down at the floor. He was embarrassed.

"Don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong" the older boy said, "I... I just want it to be a bit more... special. Oh god I sound like a girl! I mean, like, not in a school bathroom"

"I get it" the blonde faked a smile, "We should probably get back out to the others... don't want to miss the dance now do we?"

"We probably should" Josh nodded along. Simon went in for another peck on the lips, but Josh shied away and went and opened the door. Simon cursed himself for being so stupid. It's been literally twenty minutes into this relationship and he's already fucked up.

He followed along after Josh, it would look suspicious to anyone who was around, but luckily they were the only two around. The bathroom was quite far from the centre of the party.

Neither spoke as they got a couple drinks and questionable hotdogs from the concession. Simon was quite glad when they met back up with JJ and Sophie, who were sat at the tables in the lobby on their phones. If there was one thing those two loved more than each other, it was technology. It's quite sad now that you think of it like that.

Simon sat down and pulled out his phone, going onto snapchat and replying to people. When Josh sat down next to him, he felt a bit better. At least he didn't screw up that badly.

Sophie and JJ shared a look, both noticing the awkward tension. JJ went to speak up and Sophie stomped on his foot, signalling him to keep his mouth shut. It wouldn't be the first time JJ messed something up by talking.

"Here, take a picture with me" Josh said, pointing his phone at Simon, "I need a new background"

Simon smiled and put his phone down for a second, posing for the selfie. Josh put an arm around his back. The photo came out cute, "You have to send that to me. I am 100 percent making that my profile picture for everything"

"Don't tell me you're on of those kids who puts the little heart and lock emoji's with 'taken' in your Instagram bio" Josh joked.

"Nah, I'm not Harry" Simon laughed. Josh laughed along as well, even though he wasn't exactly sure who Harry was.

"There you guys are!" two boys came bouncing up. One had blond hair and blue eyes and was wearing a blue button down and black pants. The other had dark hair and eyes, and was bit shorter the the other.

"I see you followed my advice there pal!" The blond said, gesturing his hands to Simon and Josh. Josh was just confused.

"Josh, this is Harry and Vikk, you two, this is Josh" Simon introduced the three, preparing for the usual embarrassing comment Harry would make.

"Hi" Josh smiled, "I'm Simon's-"

"Boyfriend? Yeah we know, you're all Simon talks about! You two are like the cutest" Harry said, sounding like a crazy obsessed fangirl. Simon cringed.

"Awe, you talk about me?" Josh says in an overly exaggerated tone for the soul purpose of embarrassing Simon more, "That's so sweet"

"Guys! Guys!" Talia joined in the conversation in a very cheery mood, "They're starting to actually play good songs! What are you doing out here on your phones!?"

"Come on, Jide, lets go" Sophie said, putting her phone in her pockets. She had been thinking about going back in there.

Simon got up as well, grabbing onto Josh's hand and dragging him back to the gym. The music was loud enough to hear from outside, the song being played was easily recognizable. "Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams was a classic. The two found a spot in the corner, not really sure how to dance to a faster song, but the music was cool.

"Oh, when I look back now  
That summer seemed to last forever" Simon sung along to the song, tapping his foot to the beat, "And if I had the choice. Yeah, I'd always wanna be there! Those were the best days of my life!" he got a bit louder, switching to his "rock voice".

"You know this song?" Josh asked.

"You don't?" Simon gawked, "This is only like the best song produced by a Canadian artist ever!"

"I don't listen to much music"

"Standin' on your mama's porch. You told me that you'd wait forever!" Simon sang again, loudly, pointing a finger at his boyfriend, "Oh, and when you held my hand, I knew it was now or never! Those were the best days of my life!"

Josh smiled and looked down, embarrassed for both himself and the blond who was now strumming on an air guitar, "Okay, stop it"

"Don't you like my singing?"

"Yeah, but the air guitar is lame"

"You're lame"

Soon the events of beforehand were forgotten, and the two got lost in the music. Literally. Simon was singing along and Josh walked away to avoid embarrassment. It took them a while to find each other after that.

But they wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
